Sunday, June 28, 2009

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.

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