George Vardoulakis
Northrop Grumman has awarded a $33 million contract to electronic information firm Telephonics Corp. for a maritime radar on the Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle, Northrop said Tuesday.
Telephonics, a Griffin Corp. subsidiary, will be responsible for building and testing nine RDR-1700B+ radars with the goal of giving the Fire Scout search and imaging, complementing the drone’s electro-optical infrared payload.
George Vardoulakis, vice president of tactical unmanned systems for Northrop’s aerospace systems sector, said the company intends to integrate the radar with the Fire Scout’s sensors and systems to give the Navy situational awareness in a tactical environment.
“We’re looking forward to working with both Northrop Grumman and the Navy to integrate this new advanced radar system on the MQ-8B as soon as possible,” said Telephonics CEO Joseph Battaglia.
The U.S. Navy uses the MQ-8B Fire Scout for maritime operations and the company says the drone is the only vertical unmanned aerial system program of record.
Cubic Defense Applications is building a digital data link for the Fire Scout under a $3.7 million contract.
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