AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COMAPRIL 2015 |^41
US Navy UAS z
system now on Oliver Hazard Perry-
class frigates and the Coast Guard
cutter USS Bertholf, uses the 3,300 lb
(1,497kg) Sikorsky-Schweizer 333 light
helicopter to provide five hours on
station with an electro-optical payload
110 nautical miles from the ship.
Deployments in the AFRICOM region
and Afghanistan drove the MQ-8C
Endurance Upgrade.
Northrop Grumman and Bell
Helicopter teamed on the Fire-X proof
of concept using the 6,000 lb (2,722kg)
Bell 407. “We knew the Navy was
looking at a larger helicopter,” notes
Twomey. “We also knew the SOCOM
customer was looking for something
that would fly more than 4.5 to 5
hours.” A bigger helicopter also opens
opportunities for 360° search radar
and other future payloads. Combined
fuel and sensor payload of the MQ-8B
is 1,242 lb (563kg); the MQ-8C can
carry 3,200 lb (1,451kg).
The Fire-X demonstrator retained
Bell 407 cockpit controls, enabling
the optionally manned helicopter to
be piloted from one test site to another
without an FAA Certificate of
Authority. Twomey explains: “The
unmanned pieces, the boxes, went in
the back of the Fire-X. We showed we
could easily fly the Fire Scout UAS that
flew in the MQ-8A/-8B and put it into
another helicopter, and we did it fairly
rapidly.” The company-owned Fire-X
flew unmanned for the first time in
December 2010, and all subsequent
UAS testing was conducted without
a safety pilot aboard.
The Fire-X and a second Bell 407
continued as test assets after the Navy
awarded Northrop Grumman the
Endurance Upgrade EMD contract
in April 2012. The company
demonstrator, for example, made initial
SLOW-BURNING FIRE SCOUT
The Fire Scout system, first flown in 2000,
evolved from the RQ-8A, based on the three-
bladed Schweizer 300 helicopter and four-
bladed MQ-8B, with performance and
reliability improvements to today’s MQ-8C
Endurance Upgrade based on the Bell 407.
The US Navy received 30 MQ-8Bs – one was
shot down in Libya and three more were lost in
accidents. Plans for 168 MQ-8B air vehicles to
operate from frigates, destroyers, and the new
Littoral Combat Ships have been superseded
by the MQ-8C Upgrade. Northrop Grumman
has 19 MQ-8C air vehicles on contract,
including the two EMD test helicopters. The
first operational MQ-8C was delivered in
December 2014. The prime contractor has also
delivered six new control segments to provide
rapid deployment capability.
The first MQ-8B sea deployment aboard
the frigate USS McInerney from October 2009
to April 2010 flew just 60 flight hours but
provided lessons about shipboard
integration. Aboard ship, Fire Scout systems
are operated and maintained by helicopter
squadrons operating the manned SH-60B orMH-60R Seahawk from the same decks. Blue
water operations typically mix two MQ-8Bs
with one Seahawk. In 2012 HSL-42 deployed
a detachment with four MQ-8Bs and no
helicopter aboard the frigate USS Klakring
off the Horn of Africa to provide intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR)
coverage for up to 12 hours a day. The
Endurance Upgrade in the MQ-8C promises
24-hour coverage with three air vehicles.
The MQ-8B Fire Scout was deployed to
Afghanistan from May 2011 until August 2013
and provided more than 5,100 ISR flight
hours supporting US and coalition forces.
Test programs have fired laser-guided
rockets and integrated a 180° search radar
on the MQ-8B vehicle. The MQ-8C will carry
the same weapons and may be integrated
with a 360° degree radar. NAVAIR
acknowledges foreign military sales inquiries
for the MQ-8C. Tom Twomey at Northrop
Grumman notes, “There’s a lot of foreign
customer interest in it as it goes through
flight testing. Everyone wants the Navy to
pay for the R&D.”landings on a variable-slope platform
at Naval Base Ventura County at Point
Mugu, California. “When the Navy
decided to move forward on MQ-8C,
we kept flying it for awhile,” explains
Twomey. “We did a demonstration that
showed we could carry cargo
unmanned on the hook. We also did
a lot of risk reduction until we got on
contract with the MQ-8C. We were
getting datapoints to help us get ahead
of the power curve before the first
EMD birds came off the line and
started flying from Point Mugu.”Slope testing verified that the
Fire Scout flight control system
transplanted to the new helicopter
could maintain stability at different
simulated deck angles. “If the deck
of the ship is tipping one way or the
other, it provides a little compensation
because when the skids hit the deck,
it’s going to slide a bit,” Twomey
explains. In previous testing, the
MQ-8B maintained a landing
dispersion within 18 in of the deck
centerline. The bigger MQ-8C stayed
within the same margin.LEFT: The MQ-8C
endurance upgrade
gives the Fire Scout
UAS new air vehicle
12 hours’
endurance (Photo:
US Navy/Northrop
Grumman)3,000,000
The number of flight hours
accumulated by the Bell 4072,650
The weight in pounds of its
extended payload capability12
The rotor system’s maximum
flying endurance in hours