Fire Scout UAV Flies First From Marine Ground Control Station | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-05.05.25

Airborne-NextGen-05.06.25

AirborneUnlimited-05.07.25

Airborne-Unlimited-05.01.25

AirborneUnlimited-05.02.25

Fri, Apr 18, 2003

Fire Scout UAV Flies First From Marine Ground Control Station

Northrop Grumman Corporation's Integrated Systems sector continued its successful flight testing of the U.S. Navy's RQ-8A Fire Scout vertical takeoff and landing tactical unmanned aerial vehicle in March with the first flight fully operated from the U.S. Marine Corps' (USMC) S-788, a HMMWV-mounted ground control station (GCS).

Conducted at the Webster Field annex of Naval Air Station Patuxent River (MD), the flight fulfilled a key program test objective of demonstrating Fire Scout operation by both U.S. Navy and USMC ground control stations. (Fire Scout flew its first flight operated by the Navy's S-280 GCS February 10.)

The S-788-operated flight was one of two Fire Scout flights conducted on the same day. The first flight, a 20-minute demonstration flight for senior U.S. Army aviation leadership, was operated from the Navy's S-280 GCS. Less than an hour later, the Fire Scout was launched for a functional check flight under the control of the S-788 GCS. The back-to-back test flights marked the first time that Fire Scout flights were operated from Marine Corps and Navy ground control stations on the same day.

"The short turnaround time between flights and the ease of switching from Navy ground control to Marine Corps ground control provided a compelling demonstration of the robustness and flexibility of the Fire Scout system design," said T. Scott Winship, Northrop Grumman's Fire Scout program manager. "These test results reinforce our confidence in Fire Scout's ability to provide high-value support for critical Navy and Marine Corps missions."

During the Marine Corps-controlled flight, the S-788 GCS used its tactical control datalink to uplink payload command and control to Fire Scout and to downlink imagery. The ARC-210 datalink was used for air vehicle command and control. Use of this command and control software continues to reduce risk as the system is prepared to qualify and test the tactical control system software during flight test later this spring.

As in all previous Fire Scout flight tests, the USMC and Navy test flights were fully autonomous missions that included vertical takeoff, accurate navigation, full payload operation and return to a predetermined hover point in preparation for landing, all without operator intervention.

FMI: www.northropgrumman.com

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (05.06.25)

Aero Linx: International Federation of Airworthiness (IFA) We aim to be the most internationally respected independent authority on the subject of Airworthiness. IFA uniquely combi>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.06.25): Ultrahigh Frequency (UHF)

Ultrahigh Frequency (UHF) The frequency band between 300 and 3,000 MHz. The bank of radio frequencies used for military air/ground voice communications. In some instances this may >[...]

ANN FAQ: Q&A 101

A Few Questions AND Answers To Help You Get MORE Out of ANN! 1) I forgot my password. How do I find it? 1) Easy... click here and give us your e-mail address--we'll send it to you >[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Virtual Reality Painting--PPG Leverages Technology for Training

From 2019 (YouTube Edition): Learning To Paint Without Getting Any On Your Hands PPG's Aerospace Coatings Academy is a tool designed to teach everything one needs to know about all>[...]

Airborne 05.02.25: Joby Crewed Milestone, Diamond Club, Canadian Pilot Insurance

Also: Sustainable Aircraft Test Put Aside, More Falcon 9 Ops, Wyoming ANG Rescue, Oreo Cookie Into Orbit Joby Aviation has reason to celebrate, recently completing its first full t>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC