San Diego, California News Station – KFMB Channel 8 – cbs8.com
San Diego news channel reported on the developments of the locally-built MQ-8C Fire Scout.“This aircraft will be so much more efficient than any other UAV they have out there,” said Northrop Grumman’s Michael Fuqua.
It looks like a military attack helicopter, it feels like one, and flies like one but it’s not.It’s an unmanned aircrft that will be used for non-weaponized, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
“It has a full motion video camera,” said Fuqua. “It will have a radar so it can have a wide area surveillance capability to look for ships boats threats on the water also over land.”
You may be thinking — the Navy already has UAS — your right, it has the MQ-8B Fire Scout, which it currently uses.
This is the MQ-8C Fire Scout, and it is twice as big as its predecessor. “We’re gonna fly this aircraft that will double the endurance and triple the pay load.”
This one is just a model, built last month by Northrop Grumman. It is set to test fly before the end of the year. Once operational, it will fly off U.S. Navy ships around the world providing better intelligence. The US Navy has 28 Fire Scouts on order.
Source: CBS8