Two unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) could be scaled back next year despite a deployment surge to Afghanistan under a new version of the Fiscal 2012 spending bill.
Purchases of the Northrop Grumman MQ-8B, the vertical-takeoff unmanned aerial vehicle (VTUAV) operated by the US Navy, would decline by 12 aircraft, saving $115.5 million. Meanwhile, the budget for a key upgrade of the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-9 Reaper also would fall by about 15%.
A 27 May report from the House appropriations committee on DoD’s FY2012 budget request nodded to complaints by the armed services that the MQ-8B lacks range and capability, and cut funds for the remaining planned purchases of the vertical take-off UAS.
The reason for the proposed MQ-9 budget cut was not directed at the airframe, but its testing progress. The Block 5 upgrade, which adds power, communications and sensor improvements, is running a year behind schedule, the committee reports. As a result, the panel withdrew a total of about $145 million of a nearly $1 billion budget request for the MQ-9 next year.
The committee report also notes that the programme has been adrift since purchases of its intended carrier, the Littoral Combat Ship, were sharply limited in 2010. The committee cuts the MQ-8B budget by 12 aircraft, saving $115.5 million.
The committee has endorsed moving the funds saved to both the substantially-improved -C model and its yet-to-be-defined replacement: “The Committee supports the Navy’s plan to move to a longer range maritime unmanned aerial vehicle, and the recommendation fully funds the Navy’s request for development funding for this effort.”
Northrop has recently announced its intention to migrate future MQ-8 purchases to the -C model, which replaces the -B’s Schweitzer 333 airframe with a Bell 407, drastically increasing range and lifting capability.
The US Navy has announced that the MQ-8B Fire Scout is operational in Afghanistan. Three airframes, still formally under testing, were deployed in April to Regional Command – North (RC-N)’s area of operations.
The deployment marks the second operational deployment, following ongoing operations on the USS Halyburton on counter-piracy patrol off the Somali coast.
“In less than one month, we have flown more than 200 flight hours and completed more than 80 sorties and we are on track to fly 300 hours per month,” said the navy. The deployed aircraft are government-owned but operated by Northrop Grumman under military command.
Source: Flight Global