Daily Mail: The helicopter that doesn't need a pilot: US Navy reveals plans to use 40 full size helicopter drones for long range missions
* The drone is based on the highly popular Bell 407 helicopter
* Will be fitted with long range sensors and weapons
* US Navy to order 40 of the drone craft to use
At first glance, it looks like a perfectly normal helicopter.
But Northrop Grumman's MQ-8C Fire Scout is missing one key thing - a pilot.
The US Navy has revealed it is about to begin testing the pilotless copter for use of aircraft carriers.
The Navy is poised to begin operational testing of its new MQ-8C Fire Scout UAS, a vertical take-off-and landing drone engineered for maritime missions and slated to deploy aboard the services’ Littoral Combat Ship by 2018, service officials told Defencetech.
WNU Editor: This order of 40 drones is just the start .... and while the Air force has been using drones for years, it looks like the US Navy wants to catch up.
1 comment:
Not "catch up." More like working with proven platforms for basic operations (like vertical replenishment, aerial-minesweeping, ASW work, etc.) and playing with advanced tech for the missions that require a higher level of AI.
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