Frigate hosts latest trials for unmanned helo

The sight of a helicopter flying off the deck of a Navy ship usually doesn’t rate a second glance — except when it is flying without a pilot, or a cockpit.

That was the case when the frigate McInerney in late April hosted the MQ-8B, an unmanned helicopter developed by Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems and better known as Fire Scout, for the drone’s second series of test flights aboard a Navy ship.

Testers are evaluating the program through August aboard the ship, a final step before the program can become operational. Fire Scout is slated to deploy aboard McInerney for the ship’s next counternarcotics mission later this year, according to Northrop Grumman.

Read more