AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COMAPRIL 2015 |^39
US Navy UAS z
T
he US Navy has upgraded its
MQ-8 Fire Scout Unmanned
Aircraft System (UAS) from its
original MQ-8B helicopter for the
MQ-8C, with more than twice the
endurance and nearly three times the
payload. The Naval Air Systems
Command (NAVAIR) expects a first
operational MQ-8C deployment in
2016, and the endurance upgrade is in
accelerated developmental testing to
give US Special Operations Command
(SOCOM) and US Africa Command
(AFRICOM) Rapid Deployment
Capability (RDC).
“We’re flying every day,” observes
Northrop Grumman Fire Scout
business development manager Tom
Twomey. Dynamic interface testing
aboard the destroyer USS Jason
Dunham in December 2014 included
32 take-offs and recoveries with
varying winds and ship motions.
By early this year, two MQ-8C
Engineering and Manufacturing
Development (EMD) aircraft had
accumulated 345 flight hours in over
260 sorties. Program engineers had
logged 2,397 of 3,157 flight test points.
“Those are specifications from the
government – things the Navy tells you
you have to do,” explains Twomey. “In
the meantime, we’ve also delivered four
production air vehicles and completed
sound production acceptance check
flights. We’re ahead of ourselves.”
NAVAIR plans an MQ-8C
operational evaluation later this year
and has already increased the planned
number of RDC helicopters from 28 to- The Fire Scout endurance upgrade
integrates the civil Bell 407 helicopter
with nearly all the same electronics
and software as in the MQ-8B, now on
its 10th sea deployment. The MQ-8C
also uses the same shipboard control
stations, datalinks and operating
procedures. The EMD helicopters
nevertheless fly with additional
instrumentation and flight termination
systems. “They’re absolutely identical
to each other,” notes Twomey. “The
only real way they differ from the
production aircraft is they have orange
wire in them.”
Shipboard Dynamic Interface testing advances the
MQ-8C Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) toward
operational sea deploymentsBY FRANK COLUCCIAn RDC aims to rush commercial
or developmental products to the fleet.
MQ-8C testing nevertheless requires
the same engineering rigor as any
NAVAIR Program of Record and
culminates in a full Safety of Flight
certification. Test aircraft consequently
re-flew much of the documented Bell
407 flight envelope. “It was really to
verify a lot of the Bell data that’s
already out there. The 407’s already
an FAA-certified aircraft, and it’s got
a lot of time,” says Twomey. Dynamic
interface testing took the autonomous
helicopter into a new, complex
environment. “Part of the contractual
deliverables is to prove this thing is
safe to take off and land on the deck
of the ship. NAVAIR really doesn’t treat
an unmanned airplane any different
from a manned airplane.”TESTING AUTONOMY
Navy requirements for a Vertical Take-
off Unmanned Air Vehicle (VTUAV)
for over-the-horizon reconnaissance,
targeting and communications relay
date back to 1999. (See Aerospace
Test ing , Test ing Talk, June 2007.)
Programmed through its Air Vehicle
Operator (AVO) station, the Fire Scout
launches and recovers vertically on air-
capable ships and confined land bases. It
comes back aboard ship using the Sierra
Nevada Unmanned Common Automatic
Recovery System (UCARS V2).
A transponder on the helicopter
helps shipboard radar determine the
aircraft’s position, and a Recovery Data
Link sends the aircraft accurate range
data to the moving deck. Around
10-15ft (3-5m) from landing, the
airborne GE Fanuc Vehicle
Management Computer (VMC)
matches ship motion to put the
helicopter on a deck capture grid.
The Fire Scout system, including
air vehicles, AVO and MPO (mission
payload operator) stations, tactical
common datalink, UCARS, deck
landing system and related equipment
made its first operational deployment
aboard USS McInerney in 2010 and
deployed to Afghanistan from May
2011 to August 2013. The MQ-8BTesting aboard the USS Dunham
included take-offs and landings at
different weights up to the full 6,000 lb
gross weight of the MQ-8C vehicle
(Photo: US Navy/Northrop Grumman)