Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Fire Scout Officially Joins US Army

UV Online announces this latest Fire Scout Development.

'Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Fire Scout vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (TUAV) system has officially been named as the Class IV unmanned aerial system (UAS) for the US Army's Future CombatSystem (FCS).'

Rotor Hub also has a comprehensive article. Here is a short excerpt:

'The FCS Fire Scout will be a key element of the Army's tactical intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting architecture, providing real-time imagery and data collection and dissemination at the brigade level, he added.

The RQ-8B air vehicles for FCS are similar to the RQ-8A Fire Scouts Northrop Grumman is producing for the Navy. The FCS air vehicles will feature a new, four-blade rotor system (versus the RQ-8A's three-blade design), improved airfoil blades and several performance enhancements that enable more than eight hours endurance with a specification payload weight of 130 pounds.'

Posted by Darren at January 29, 2004 06:51 PM | More from UAV News |