Five More MQ-8C Fire Scouts Ordered for US Navy

30th January 2019 Alan

A US Navy MQ-8C Fire Scout chained to the flight deck of the littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) in the Pacific Ocean on June 21, 2018. Five more MQ-8Cs were ordered today for the USN. US Navy/Ensign Jalen Robinson

A FURTHER five MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned air systems have been ordered for the US Navy.Â A $55,062,919 contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation for them today, January 30, by US Naval Air Systems Command.Â The deal, which is a modification to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm contract, also includes two lightweight fuel cells.

Work is expected to be completed in August 2021.Â Financing for the procurement comes from fiscal year 2018 US Navy aircraft funding. Â The MQ-8C is based on the airframe of the Bell 407 helicopter, incorporating the avionics and other systems from the earlier MQ-8B, which was derived from the smaller Schweizer 333.