Military

Radar to Be Part of Fire Scout UAV Platform

By Tish Drake | March 20, 2008
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Radar will be incorporated onto Northrop Grumman’s MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV), the company said. Northrop Grumman first demonstrated radar capability on the RQ-8A Fire Scout in 2003 using a General Atomics Lynx Radar. That demonstration carried both radar and an electro-optical/infrared system. The same demonstration will take place on the MQ-8B Fire Scout this year on a company-owned Fire Scout using a non-developmental Telephonics RDR-1700B maritime surveillance and imaging radar. The purpose, Northrop Grumman said, of the demonstration is to show enhanced Fire Scout operational utility while confirming the assessment of a need for radar. Radar integration and installation will take place at Northrop Grumman’s Unmanned Systems Development Centers in San Diego, and in Moss Point, Miss. Demonstration flights will be conducted at Webster Field, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. or Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz.

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