The U.S. Navy is using robotic helicopters as part of its surveillance missions. The MQ-8B Fire Scout could be how the U.S. Navy conducts surveillance missions in the future. Acording to the Wall Street Journal's Nathan Hodge, the Fire Scout has already been deployed for missions over the Middle East, including Afghanistan. In 2010, the Fire Scout was used in a drug bust in the Eastern Pacific.
Accordig to the Navy, the Fire Scout can stay in the air much longer than manned helicopters and can fly at a range of up to 150 miles from its home base. The Fire Sout flew 18 hours in a single day. Fire Scout's are remotely controlled by operaters onboard U.S. Navy ships. The FS is built by Northrop Grumman. U.S. Navy has plans to buy 168 of these puppies.
COMMENTARY: The Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout is an unmanned autonomous helicopter developed for use by the United States armed forces to provide reconnaissance, situational awareness, and precision targeting support. The initial RQ-8A version was based on the Schweizer 330, while the enhanced MQ-8B is derived from the Schweizer 333.
Originally the U.S. Navy decided the Fire Scout didn't meet their operational and mission needs, and cut funding for production in December 2001. However, the development program continued, and Northrop Grumman pitched a range of improved configurations to anyone who was interested. As it turned out, the U.S. Army was very interested, awarding a contract for seven improved "RQ-8B" evaluation machines in late 2003. In 2006, it was redesignated "MQ-8B".
The MQ-8B features four-blade main rotor, in contrast to the larger-diameter three-blade rotor of the RQ-8A, to reduce noise and improve lift capacity and performance. The four-blade rotor had already been evaluated on Fire Scout prototypes. They boost gross takeoff weight by 500 pounds to 3,150 pounds (by 225 kg to 1,430 kg), with payloads of up to 700 pounds (320 kg) for short-range missions.
The MQ-8B Fire Scout maybe small, but let there be no doubt that this robotic helicopter is a super-sophisticated killing machine. This is what's in store for Al Qaeda terrorists, Taliban fighters and Islamic Jihadists. The MQ-8B is fitted with stub wings which serve both an aerodynamic purpose as well as an armament carriage location. MQ-8B armaments include:
- AGM 114 Hellfire missiles - One
- Viper Strike laser-guided glide weapons - Two
- Two pods carrying the "Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS)", a laser-guided Hydra 70 millimeter (2.75 inch) folding-fin rocket - Eight
Production of the flight test airframes was initiated in April 2006 at the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems production plant in Moss Point, Mississippi. The Navy approved low-rate initial production. First flight of the MQ-8B took place on December 18, 2006 at NAS Patuxent River.
The Army interest revived Navy interest in the program, with the Navy ordering eight Sea Scout MQ-8B derivatives for evaluation. In January 2010, the Army terminated its involvement with the Fire Scout contending that the Shadow UAV could meet the Army's needs.
The MQ-8B complements the manned aviation detachments onboard Air Capable ships and is deployed along with either an SH-60B HSL/HSM detachment or a SH-60S HSC detachment. With the planned addition of RADAR, AIS, and weapons, the MQ-8B will provide many of the capabilities currently provided by the SH-60B. It will give the ship and embarked air detachment greater flexibility in meeting mission demands, and will free manned aircraft for those missions.
Production aircraft will eventually be deployed on the Navy's new Littoral Combat Ships, which I profiled on September 13, 2010. In February 2008, the U.S. Navy announced that they would integrate the MQ-8B Fire Scout VTUAV onto another air-capable ship before it reaches the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).
In September 2009, the U.S. Navy announced the first deployment of the MQ-8B Fire Scout on board the guided-missile frigate USS McInerney, an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, for counter-narcotics trafficking deployment in 2009.
On 3 April 2010, an MQ-8 from McInerney detected a "go-fast" open speedboat and a support vessel engaged in smuggling cocaine in the Eastern Pacific, allowing the ship to confiscate 60 kg of cocaine and detain a number of suspects.
SPECIFICATIONS:
The MQ-8B Fire Scout has the ability to autonomously take off and land on any aviation-capable warship and at prepared and unprepared landing zones in proximity to the soldier in contact.
- Autonomous operations from all air-capable ships
- 8 hours continuous system on station coverage
- Ceiling and airspeed: 20,000 ft, 125 + kts
- 5 hours on station time (single vehicle) at 110 nm
- Target location error < 12 m CEP
- Interoperability through Tactical Control System (TCS) software and STANAG 4586 Compliance Payload Features
- Modular Mission Payloads (MMP)
- Plug and play product
- Baseline MMP capability
- EO/IR laser range finder designator
- Voice/data communication relay
- 600 pound lift capacity
- Growth payloads
- COMINT/SIGINT, Tactical Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR/MTI), Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), SATCOM,Sonobuoy delivery, expendables employment, threat countermeasures, mine detection, etc.
- The 75-lb. electro-optical infrared/multi-spectral imaging payload can detect surface-emplaced and recently buried patterned mines, as well as randomly scattered mines. The payload also can be expanded to detect obstacles, combat vehicles, camouflaged objects and other combat targets.
- Power plant: Model 250-C20W
- Sensors & Communications: AACER, AN/DVS-1 COBRA, ASTAMIDS, Brite Star II
SYSTEM CAPABILITIES:
- Providing organic Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Targeting (ISR/T) capabilities
- Provides Over The Horizon (OTH) targeting
- Provides "real- time" Battle Damage Assessment
- Implements network centric warfare concepts with communications relay capability
- Defense IT Standard Registry/Joint Technical Architecture (DISR/JTA) compliant
- Fully interoperable between land and sea-based Tactical Control Systems
- Legacy of High Reliability:
- Based on a Schweizer Aircraft commercial airframe with over 20 million flight hours, the Fire Scout vehicle incorporates reliable turbine power (160 million flight hours) using standard NATO heavy fuel. Leveraging from this FAA certified aircraft with commonality of over 50 percent of the mechanical parts, the servicing and logistical processes are well known, proven and documented. This "low risk" approach for the airframe allows effective maturation of the entire system within a short development schedule.
Each MQ-8B Fire Scout costs $16.2 million. The U.S. Navy's contract calls for the production of 168 MQ-8B's at a total cost of $2.8 billion. MQ-8B's are scheduled for deployment on board the U.S. Navy's Littoral Ships LCS Freedom and Independence.
Courtesy of an article dated May 16, 2011 appearing in The Wall Street Journal, Wikipedia and Northrop Grumman
These would look great taking out the commuter ofice traffic after a hard days work at the NSA.Word.
Posted by: Account Deleted | 05/18/2011 at 04:49 AM