Sea Air Space 2011: USN extends Fire Scout ops

The US Navy (USN) has revealed plans to deploy Northrop Grumman's Fire Scout MQ-8B with the US Army in northern Afghanistan as well as moves to weaponise the platform.

Speaking to Shephard at the Navy League Sea Air Space exposition in Washington, DC, USN Capt Tim Dunigan, programme manager for PMA-266 said funding had been secured for a year-long deployment in Afghanistan. He said the 'ISR Task Force' mission would comprise three aircraft and two ground control stations which would also support coalition operations in the North of the country. He expected the systems to become operational this year.

In addition, Dunigan said the navy was also waiting to hear back from Congress regarding funding for its Weapons Rapid Deployment Capability, which he said, was in the process of being validated.

'This is an incremental step towards a Program of Record for weaponisation,' he stated while describing how the navy had already selected BAE Systems' APKWS and Raytheon's Griffin munitions. He added that Hellfire and Viper Strike munitions had also been considered although Dunigan said the navy was still 'curious' about various weapon systems still in development. The USN said it expected to hear back from Congress by the end of May.

Other upgrades include a radar capability, which Dunigan said the navy would be 'pursuing shortly' as well as various software changes designed to improve tracking management.

Currently, two Fire Scout systems are conducting counter-piracy operations as part of a NATO battlegroup in the Gulf of Aden. Dunigan said the airframes, operating on board the USS Halyburton until August, had flown a total of 193 hours over 26 days fly days.

'We are seeing a lot of firsts. They are being used to identify ships on a regular basis as well as NATO taskings over water, over land and in the littoral environment,' he said. The aircraft are also being used for joint operations with SH-60 Seahawks helicopters.