Navy Tests MQ-8C Unmanned Chopper

Bell, helicopter, Navy, Drone, Chopper, Northrop Grumman, Fire Scout

Bell, helicopter, Navy, Drone, Chopper, Northrop Grumman, Fire Scout

Early on the afternoon of October 31, at the Naval Base Ventura County, the first flight test of the MQ-8C  unmanned helicopter got under way .

Based upon a Bell 407 chopper the MQ-8C is will have twice the endurance and triple the carry capacity of its predecessor the MQ-8B. According to Northrop Grumman, the designer of the drone, the MQ-8C will be abled to fly for up to 12 hours with a fully loaded payload of 2,600lbs.

“Operating the MQ-8B Fire Scout from Navy ships has proved extremely successful,” says George Vardoulakis, Northrop Grumman’s vice president for medium range tactical systems. “During at-sea deployments, operators saw the need for a system that carried the same intelligence-gathering capabilities of the MQ-8B, but fly longer and carry additional payloads. Changing out the airframe, installing control systems and avionics, and then conducting a first flight of the system in a year is truly remarkable. I couldn’t be more proud of the team.”

Northrop Grumman expects to begin delivering the first of the Navy’s 30 MQ-8C’s by mid-2014. Current cost estimates peg each MQ-8C at $18.4M, pretty cheap for a piece of military hardware, but still pretty expensive for a high-tech retrofit.

Images Courtesy of Northrop Grumman