Posted on 03/01/2012 8:25:02 PM PST by U-238
Things could get a lot busier for the Navy's fleet of Fire Scout drones with the service's decision to drop plans for a new, medium-range unmanned aircraft.
The larger C model version of the MQ-8 Fire Scout might fill some of the requirements left unfilled by the Navy's decision to cancel the Medium-Range Maritime Unmanned Aerial System program earlier this year. The Navy stands to save $200 million in fiscal 2013 and $1.3 billion over the next five years as a result of the MRMUAS cancellation, Naval Air Systems Command spokeswoman Jamie Cosgrove said in an email.
The MRMUAS was an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance helicopter drone, designed to support Navy and special operations forces. It would have had a longer range and carried larger intel payloads compared to the Fire Scout. But, due in part to the "demonstrated in-theater capability of the MQ-8B Fire Scout aircraft and follow on MQ-8C capability upgrade," Navy leaders decided to nix the MRMUAS, Cosgrove said. Congressional appropriators set aside $191 million for the Navy to buy 12 new C model Fire Scouts in the omnibus spending legislation passed by the Hill last December. The Navy and Fire Scout prime contractor Northrop Grumman are hammering out the details on a deal to build the new C model Fire Scouts, which could be locked in as soon as March, a company official told AOL Defense last month.
(Excerpt) Read more at defense.aol.com ...
All the various drones being introduced add intriguing new capabilities to our ability to wage war. Unfortunately, none of them are worth squat without a Commander in Chief who wants to win!
you’re kidding me. that’s it?
that design looks er problematic.
too many engines. imagine the noise.
ping
Assembled in Moss Point. This is good news for the Coast economy.
Rep. Steven Palazzo visits Global Hawk, Fire Scout drone center
As soon as we get one built, it’ll land in Iran, I’m sure.
Maybe carry a small nuke on it
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To replace the P-3C, the Navy was committed to building 108 — down from 155 — P-8A aircraft, supplemented by 90 or so Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) UAVs. Look for the P-8 to be quietly canceled after a dozen or so are built, as well as the BAMS aircraft. No money for ASW (or anti-mine warfare, either). Also look for LCS, DDG-1000, and CG(X) to be canceled. The US Navy is going back to the seapower it fielded in the 1930s.
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