Fire Scout to begin live-fire assessment in March 2013, frigate integration continues

The US Navy (USN) intends to conduct a live-fire assessment of an MQ-8B Fire Scout vertical take-off and landing unmanned air vehicle (UAV) armed with the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) in March 2013.

The assessment is part of an urgent operational request to arm the MQ-8B with six APKWS. The plan is to deploy the UAV in the March-April 2013 time frame.

The MQ-8B airframe is based on Schweizer's 333 airframe, which was rebranded as the Sikorsky S-333 in 1999.

The navy is also in the midst of integrating Fire Scout aboard USS Perry-class frigates in response to an urgent operational need to support maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations, Captain Patrick Smith, programme manager for the navy and marine corps multimission tactical unmanned aerial system programme office, said during a 4 December briefing.

Integration of Fire Scout ISR data onto a frigate is tied in three different ways, Capt Smith noted: Full Motion Video (FMV) to the Combat Information Centre (CIC), FMV to the CIC crew, and to provide reach-back through satellite communications to make FMV available to different users.