Navy Completed Calibration Testing for MQ-8C Fire Scout Equipped With Leonardo Radar Written 18 May 2020
In This Section

MQ-8C Fire Scout | Associated Press–©
Aviation Today reported that the US Navy “has completed calibration testing of the Leonardo Osprey 30 AN/ZPY-8 radar for the Northrop Grumman MQ-8C Fire Scout drone and is to finish flight testing of the radar by December, as the Fire Scout moves toward planned deployment next year.” The Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) AN/ZPY-8 radar “uses Minotaur Mission Processor software developed by the Navy and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. The software, which began development in 2006 and is deployed on a number of platforms, including Customs and Border Protection Super King Air 350ERs by Textron Aviation, Navy P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft by The Boeing Company, and Coast Guard HC-130Js, allows the integration of multiple sensors and the cross-platform sharing of data.” The Navy “ran 16 calibration flight tests of the radar’s Minotaur software between Feb. 27 and Apr. 16, Navy Capt. Eric Soderberg, the Navy program manager for multi-mission tactical unmanned aerial systems (PMA-266), wrote in an email to Avionics International.” Northrop Grumman “said that it has delivered 32 of 38 planned Fire Scouts to the Navy and that all will receive retrofits of the AN/ZPY-8 radar, which the company said expands Fire Scout’s range to meet future requirements and significantly increases Fire Scout’s detection and tracking of targets.”
Full Story (Aviation Today)