The MQ-8 Fire Scout, an unmanned helicopter used for reconnaissance work by all branches of the US military, made news this week when the US Navy grounded its Fire Scout aircraft after a pair of recent crashes. The current machines are unarmed, but by 2013, a planned weapons upgrade will make them first sea-based, armed drone helicopter in the Navy’s arsenal.
The Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout is 7.3m long, 2.7m tall, and weighs 940.3kg. Its 8.2m diameter quad-blade rotor is powered by a Rolls-Royce 250 engine. The Fire Scout is capable of toting up to 317.5kg of payload on short missions, it can deploy for up to eight hours within a 204km range, and climb to an operational ceiling of 6096m.
In a a $US17 million deal signed in November, the military made plans to outfit the Fire Scouts with a variety of ordnance, including Hellfire missiles, Viper Strike laser-guided glide weapons, and laser-guided 70mm rockets, all part of the “Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS)”. Despite the new killing capacity, the MQ-8Bs will continue to serve as recon platforms replete with a laser target-designating turret, multi-spectral sensor, Target Acquisition Minefield Detection System and Tactical Common Data Link.
The MQ-8B isn’t even the biggest and baddest of the Fire Scout line. Northrop Grumman is currently at work on the MQ-8C, which will feature the same internal technology as the earlier models but will be fitted into a Bell 407 chassis. Known as the Fire-X, it will feature increased range and carrying capacities. Currently, 28 Fire-Xs are under construction and will be delivered in 2014. Hopefully the rest of the Fire Scout fleet will be back up and flying by then. [Northrop Grumman – Innovation News Daily – Wikipedia – Wired – Slate – Image: Northrop Grumman]