Northrop Grumman has completed the first flight test for a U.S. Navy Fire Scout system off the Virginia coast. The MQ-8C system flew from the USS Jason Dunham guided-missile destroyer as it was controlled from the ship’s ground control station, the company said Tuesday. “We are on track to validate all of the critical performance parameters […] More

Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy have demonstrated the MQ-8C Fire Scout system during a flight test from a guided-missile destroyer off the Virginia coast. The Fire Scout system took its first flight off the USS Jason Dunham destroyer, controlled from the sip’s ground control station, Northrop said Tuesday. “These dynamic interface tests are an essential […] More

Northrop Grumman, the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy demonstrated an unmanned helicopter off the coast of Naval Base Ventura County on Dec. 5, Point Mugu. Navy and Coast Guard personnel controlled the MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter while onboard the USCGC Bertholf national security cutter, Northrop said Tuesday. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dan Broadhurst, UAS platform manager, said the demo was conducted […] More

Northrop Grumman has handed over the U.S. Navy‘s first MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaisance missions. The MQ-8C is designed to have a larger airframe and fly with three times more ISR payload than its predecessor variant MQ-8B, Northrop said Wednesday. “The test program will run through the summer as we […] More

Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy have demonstrated a new maritime surveillance radar that the company modified from a manned aircraft system built by Telephonics Corp. The company and Navy flew the MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter for the demonstration as part of the efforts to help Navy commanders increase their long-range imaging and search capabilities, Northrop said Tuesday. […] More

Northrop Grumman will establish an office near London International Airport in Ontario through a partnership with Diamond Aircraft Industries to offer intelligence-gathering aircraft systems in Canada and other international markets. George Vardoulakis, vice president of medium-range tactical systems at Northrop, said Wednesday the companies will work to combine Northro’s manned and unmanned systems technology and Diamond […] More

Northrop Grumman worked with Yamaha Motor to develop an unmanned helicopter system for activities such as powerline inspections, wildfire monitoring and search-and-rescue flights. The Rotary Bat drone features a Yamaha-made airframe, an autonomous controller and technology designed to gather intelligence, Northrop said Thursday. “The R-Bat joins our existing Bat family of unmanned aircraft systems used for […] More

The U.S. Navy and Northrop Grumman will conduct tests to assess how a Northrop-built unmanned helicopter operates in an electromagnetic environment at sea. Northrop designed the MQ-8C Fire Scout aircraft with a Faraday shield that aims to protect avionics systems against radio frequency interference, Northrop said Monday. “Almost 95 percent of what makes up the […] More

The U.S. Navy and Northrop Grumman plan to carry out the first set of ship-based flights of the MQ-8C Fire Scout this summer, said George Vardoulakis, Northrop vice president of medium range tactical systems. “Land-based flight tests of the system are progressing well and… We expect the MQ-8C Fire Scout will be ready for operations by year […] More

The U.S. Navy has completed its test flight of a second modernized Fire Scout unmanned helicopter that Northrop Grumman built for the service. Northrop and the Navy remotely flew a MQ-8C variant Wednesday at Naval Base Ventura County in Point Mogu, Calif.,  the company said Thursday. “The addition of the second MQ-8C means we can […] More

In a series of recent flight tests off the coast of San Diego the Northrop Grumman Corporation and the U.S. Navy victoriously took to the air with the unmanned MQ-8B Fire Scout simultaneously with the MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter, what was their first time in flight. The testing took place aboard the USS Freedom Littoral […] More