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First flight for MQ-8C Fire Scout

1st November 2013 - 09:21 GMT | by Beth Stevenson in London

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The latest variant of the US Navy's Fire Scout UAV has flown for the first time in California, during which it stayed airborne for seven and nine minutes over two tests, service officials have revealed.

The VTOL MQ-8C is based on the Bell 407, a larger airframe in comparison to the in-service MQ-8B which utilises the Schweizer 333 airframe. The latest platform aims to provide additional endurance, payload and range for the navy and is also manufactured by Northrop Grumman.

Designed to fly for twice as long as its predecessor and with three times the payload capacity, the

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Author

Beth Stevenson

Beth is a former senior reporter for Digital Battlespace and Unmanned Vehicles magazines. Beth graduated …

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