Northrop to supply Navy with two Fire Scout UAV helicopters

It was not that long ago that we reported that Northrop Grumman had opened its Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Mississippi with a view toward assembling parts for its Global Hawk and Fire Scout UAVs. We have since followed up repeatedly on the former, but until now we have not had another chance to mention the latter — a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), or helicopter, UAV being built primarily as a surveillance, intelligence, and reconnaissance aircraft. The Army version of Fire Scout also contains biologic sensing devices and electronics that will allow it to detect land mines from the air. Based on the Schweizer Model 333 manned helicopter, the Fire Scout can autonomously take off and land on any aviation-capable warship and at unprepared landing zones near the forward edges of battlefields.

We mention this because the Navy has ordered two new Fire Scouts as part of a $16.2 million contract modification. The navy first tested the craft in 2003 aboard the Navy’s amphibious transport dock USS Denver, and apparently officials liked what they saw. Indeed, with a total endurance of eight hours, it seems perfectly fitted for naval purposes, and its sophisicated electronics can also function as a communications node and a communications relay within the “proposed network-centric warfare battle space of the future.”

Northrop Grumman’s Fire Scout team includes Horseheads, New York-based Schweizer Aircraft Corporation; Oswego, New York-based Lockheed Martin Systems Integration; Salt Lake City, Utah-based L-3 Communications; and Sparks, Nevada-based Sierra Nevada. Work on the latest Navy contract will be in San Diego, and will be finished in 2008.

-read more in this Military and Aerospace Electronics report