Northrop Grumman has received a $35 million contract to conduct risk reduction activities in support of the U.S. Navy's MQ-25 Stingray drone.

Work under the cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the unmanned carrier aviation air system will include refining concepts and developing trade space for requirements generation in advance of the engineering and manufacturing development phase.

Work will be performed in California and is expected to be completed by October 2017.

Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting entity.

The Stingray is the Navy's first operational carrier-based, catapult-launched drone system.

It will provide long-endurance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and refueling capability for carrier air wings. The Stingray will also extend effective mission ranges of carrier assets and preserve the service life of manned jets.