Leonardo’s recently revealed Osprey 30 lightweight active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar has been selected by the US Navy for integration on the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Fire Scout unmanned air vehicle.
A contract was signed on 26 May, a Naval Air Systems Command notification says, that will see Northrop integrate the radar onto the Bell 407-derived vertical take-off and landing UAV.
The USN has been searching for a radar for the UAV since 2014, and required a more advanced system than the Telephonics AN/ZPY-4 used on the smaller Schweizer 333-derived MQ-8B.
Revealed in May, the company claims that the AESA radar is the first system of its type to offer full spherical coverage with no moving parts.
The Osprey radar has been flown on the first AgustaWestland AW101 on order for the Norwegian search and rescue helicopter programme, in a three AESA array configuration.
Source: Flightglobal