MQ-8B UAV Begins Testing

[unhappycamper]

MQ-8B UAV Begins Testing
Aviation Week's DTI | Amy Butler | January 08, 2008

The Navy's MQ-8B Fire Scout has begun testing with a test and training flight control segment, a shelter-based version of the consoles and support equipment that was designed to operate the unmanned rotorcraft from the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).

Meanwhile, though, the Navy is exploring alternative platforms to house the aircraft and demonstrate it at sea because of ongoing delays in the LCS program. Though General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin are building the first two LCS ships, work on additional ships has been scrapped, leaving the Fire Scout without a deck -- including at the Coast Guard.

The first test of the MQ-8B using the control segment took place Dec. 15 at the Webster Field annex of Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The control segment includes tactical control segment software made by Raytheon. It includes updates drawn up during flights of the earlier RQ-8A as well as equipment for the baseline forward FLIR and BRITE Star II electro-optical and infrared payloads and a Northrop Grumman designed mine detection payload.

This phase of testing will be land-based, and it is in preparation for planned sea trials next year. Those, however, could be shifted to another platform, such as the DDG-51, which could host the unmanned rotorcraft in advance of more LCS into the fleet.

Already, the first shipboard control segment has been installed on the LCS USS Independence.


Article at: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,159558,00.html



uhc comment: Meet the $15,100,000 MQ-8B:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MQ-8_Fire_Scout

MQ-8B

Although progress on the project had been regarded as satisfactory, the Navy decided the Fire Scout didn't meet their needs after all, 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 is fitted with stub wings as well. The wings will serve both an aerodynamic purpose as well as an armament carriage location, with weapons to include such as Hellfire missiles; Viper Strike laser-guided glide weapons; and in particular pods carrying the "Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS)", a laser-guided 70 millimeter (2.75 inch) folding-fin rocket, which the Army sees as ideal for the modern battlefield. The Army is also interested in using the Fire Scout to carry up to 90 kilograms (200 pounds) of emergency supplies to troops in the field.

The MQ-8B is being modified to permit rapid swapout of payload configurations. The current sensor configuration of a day/night turret with a laser target designator will of course remain an option. Alternate sensor payloads in consideration include a SAR with Moving Target Indicator (MTI) capability; a multispectral sensor; and a SIGINT module. The Army wants the Fire Scout to operate as an element of an integrated ground sensor network as well.

Ironically, the Army interest revived Navy interest in the program, with the Navy ordering eight Sea Scout MQ-8B derivatives for evaluation.



http://www.deagel.com/Tactical-Unmanned-Rotorcrafts/MQ-8B-Fire-Scout_a000557002.aspx