Navy orders five Fire Scout UAS | Sallyport to provide Iraq F-16 Support | Netherlands roll out first F-35
Feb 01, 2019 05:00 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff
Americas
The Navy awarded external link Northrop Grumman with a $55.1 million contract modification for the procurement of five Fire Scout MQ-8C unmanned air systems (UAS) and two lightweight fuel cells. The Fire Scout is a next-generation, unmanned air system designed to support land and sea-based military operations. It is meant to perform missions including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, cargo resupply, and communications relay. It provides naval forces with extended over-the-horizon intelligence-gathering capability. The MQ-8C Fire Scout’s airframe is based on the commercial Bell 407, a mature helicopter with more than 1,400 airframes produced and over 4 million flight hours. The MQ-8C Fire Scout is an upgrade to the existing “B†variant. With a larger airframe and its ability to autonomously take-off and land on any aviation-capable ship, the “C†can fly nearly twice as long and carry three times more payload than its predecessor. On the contract awarded to Northrop, the company will do the work in California, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, and various other US locations and should be finished by August 2021.
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/navy-orders-five-fire-scout-uas-sallyport-to-provide-iraq-f-16-support-netherlands-roll-out-first-f-35-041558/
