The
MQ-8C Fire Scout landing on the USS Dunham for the first time. the
drone does not need a runway to take off so the Navy hopes to use it on
smaller ships.
The US
Navy is poised to begin operational testing of its new MQ-8C Fire Scout
UAS, a vertical take-off-and landing drone engineered for maritime
missions and slated to deploy aboard the services’ Littoral Combat Ship
by 2018, service officials told Defencetech.
The
MQ-8C is a larger, upgraded version of the currently existing MQ-8B
Fire Scout, a vertical take-off– and landing unmanned system which
deployed to the Pacific theater aboard the USS Fort Worth.
The
Navy has been conducting initial testing with two test MQ-8C aircraft
as a step toward eventually acquiring up to 40 MQ-8Cs, said Capt. Jeff
Dodge, program manager, Multi-mission Technical Unmanned Air System
Office.
Seventeen of the new drones are already on order, he added.
“The
MQ-8C has shown greater range and endurance than we had originally
estimated,” Dodge said in an interview with Military.com.
The
MQ-8C air vehicle upgrade will provide longer endurance, range and
greater payload capability than the existing smaller MQ-8B.
The MQ-8C Fire Scout is a fully autonomous, fourblade, single-engine unmanned helicopter.
'It
will carry an array of reconnaissance, surveillance and target
acquisition (RSTA) sensors to support warfighters' demands for enhanced
situational awareness,' the firm said.
After
more than a year of land-based testing at Point Mugu, California, the
MQ-8C Fire Scout has now made 22 takeoffs and 22 precision landings
while being controlled from the ship's ground control station.
'The
MQ-8C Fire Scout's flights from the USS Dunham represent a significant
Navy milestone,' said said Capt. Jeff Dodge, Fire Scout program manager
at Naval Air Systems Command.
'This is the first sea-based flight of the MQ-8C and the first time an unmanned helicopter has operated from a destroyer.
The MQ-8C Fire Scout is a fully autonomous, fourblade, single-engine unmanned helicopter.
The drone
is based on a Bell 407 helicopter,
which is often used by hospitals,
news organizations,
movie studios and law enforcement agencies
worldwide.
The unmanned systems architecture has
accrued more than 7,800 flight hours, with over 5,900 of those hours
flown operationally from ships and on land.
The
drone is based on a Bell 407 helicopter, which is often used by
hospitals, news organizations, movie studios and law enforcement
agencies worldwide.
Over 1,000 have been sold, with over 3 million accumulated flight hours - but now it is undergoing a radical conversion.
'Fire
Scout supports both maritime and land-based missions, taking off and
landing on aviation-capable warships, and at prepared and unprepared
landing zones in proximity to ground troops.
The
unmanned systems architecture has accrued more than 7,800 flight hours,
with over 5,900 of those hours flown operationally from ships and on
land.
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