The MQ-8C Fire Scout completed a three week operational assessment period Nov. 20 at Naval Base Ventura County at Point Mugu, California.
The OA included 11 flights totaling 83.4 flight hours where Fire Scout was tested against maritime and surveyed land targets to assess system performance, endurance and reliability of the unmanned helicopter.
“MQ-8C is meeting or exceeding its performance objectives and will deliver greater warfighting capabilities to the fleet in the future,” said Capt Jeff Dodge, Fire Scout’s program manager for Multi-Mission Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems.
The MQ-8C will provide twice the endurance and three times the payload as the existing MQ-8B. It has a range of 150 nautical miles and a payload capacity of more than 700 pounds which provides unique situational awareness and precision target support for the Navy on land and at-sea with its multiple intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.
The latest version of Navy’s Fire Scout reconnaissance drone is being readied for actual takeoff and landing from the deck of a Navy ship at sea, the company announced following recent test takeoffs and landings using a sloped platform at Naval Base Ventura County at Point Mugu, California.
“The … tests are designed to be as real as it gets to actually operating on a Navy ship,” Capt. Patrick Smith, Fire Scout program manager at Naval Air Systems Command, said in a statement. “The autonomous MQ-8C Fire Scout system is able to precisely track and understand the roll and pitch of the surface which resembles at-sea conditions.”
The same test platform was used previously to test the MQ-8B Fire Scout for ship-based operations. That unmanned aviation system began at-sea testing earlier this year. Northrop Grumman, the Navy’s prime contractor on the MQ-8, said initial ship-based flights of the C-model will take place before year’s end.
The MQ-8C model has flown 219 flights and 287 hours since its first flight nearly one year ago, on Oct. 31.
