US Navy readies new Squadron for Fire Scout, rotary UAV Operators

Jeff Head

Jeff Head

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The U.S. Navy is creating its first squadron to train and deploy sailors to operate the MQ-8B Fire Scout and MQ-8C Fire-X unmanned helicopters.

The training plans reveal a major role for enlisted drone operators, who’ll operate the larger, faster Fire-X from warships in support of ground-based operations. Still, some hybrid positions — mixing manned and unmanned flight duties — will be for officers only.

Unmanned Helicopter Reconnaissance Squadron 1 will stand up Oct. 1 at Naval Air Station North Island, Calif. It will be a single squadron with three jobs:

• Serve as the fleet replacement squadron to train aviators on how to operate both MQ-8 variants and their mission payloads.

• Provide littoral combat ships with aviation detachments, or AVDETs.

• Provide the rest of the fleet’s surface combatants with unmanned aerial system detachments, or UDETs.

The basics of the squadron were included in OPNAPNOTE 5400, which, along with comments from the Navy, gives the most specific details about Fire Scout operations and deployments to date, including the different roles that officer and enlisted operators will play and what type of missions they’ll fly when sitting at the controls. The Navy has been testing Fire Scout operations on frigates for three years.

AVDET operators will be officers from the MH-60 helicopter community. They’ll deploy on littoral combat ships with both a Fire Scout and an MH-60 onboard, and they’ll fly both aircraft while underway. Only officers fly manned aircraft, so enlisted personnel would not be able to fulfill that role.

However, aviation weapon system operators will operate sensors on both aircraft, while maintainers will keep them operational. AVDETs will fly the MQ-8B variant, which is already in service.

Officers will head to HUQ-1 for Fire Scout training — either as an air vehicle operator or a mission payload operator — right from their manned fleet replacement squadron training. From HUQ-1, they’ll head to either a helicopter maritime strike squadron or a helicopter sea combat squadron to support the LCS.

Enlisted sailors will operate the MQ-8C, a bigger version of the MQ-8B that’s on a fast-track development program, from surface combatants, said Lt. Aaron Kakiel, a spokesman for Naval Air Forces. Enlisted sailors will operate from UDETs, he said, with missions in support of conventional or special operations forces on the ground.

The Fire-X is expected to deploy in 2014.

Training curriculums last no more than seven weeks, rely heavily on computer simulations and will be held at North Island. Fire Scout deployments, however, have all been with Mayport, Fla.-based frigates, and there’s a Fire Scout training facility at nearby Naval Air Station Jacksonville. Kakiel said that the change of coasts is because the first LCS vessels will be home-ported in San Diego and because AVDETs will come from MH-60 squadrons based at North Island. The Navy will use the Jacksonville facility to help maintain proficiencies, and other sites also are being considered for training facilities.
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MQ-8-Fire-Scout-rotary-wing-unmanned-air-vehicle.jpg

US Navy MQ-8B Fire Scout Rotary UAV​

The MQ-8B is a rotary UAV that first flew in 2006 and was first deployed on US vessels in a test capaciy in 2009. It is fitted with stub wings which serve both an aerodynamic purpose as well as an armament carriage location. Weapons it can carry currently include Hellfire missiles, Viper Strike laser-guided glide weapons, and in particular pods carrying the "Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS)", a laser-guided 70 millimeter (2.75 inch) folding-fin rocket.

The MQ-8B complements the manned aviation detachments onboard Air Capable ships and is deployed along with either an SH-60B HSL/HSM detachment or a MH-60S HSC detachment. With the planned addition of RADAR, AIS, and naval weapons, the MQ-8B will provide many of the capabilities currently provided by the SH-60B. It will give the ship and embarked air detachment greater flexibility in meeting mission demands, and will free manned aircraft for those missions

General characteristics:
Payload: 600 lb (272 kg)
Length: 23.95 ft (7.3 m)
Rotor diameter: 27.5 ft (8.4 m)
Height: 9.71 ft (2.9 m)
Empty weight:: 2,073 lb (940.3 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 3,150 lb (1,430 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce 250, 313 kW (420 hp)

Performance:
Maximum speed: 115 knots (213 km/h)+
Cruise speed: 110 knots (200 km/h)
Combat radius: 110 nmi (203.7 km) plus 5+ hours on station
Endurance: 8 hours
Service ceiling: 20,000 ft (6,100 m)

Fire-X-Scout_VUAS_FFG56.jpg

US Navy MQ-8C Fire X Rotary UAV​

The MQ-8C is the planned larger version of the Fire Scout and is dubbed the Fire X. It is a rotary UAV that will be able to carry significant amounts of cargo and ultimately more sensors and weapons for the US Navy. It is being developed from a Bell 407 helicopter and will be completely enclosed with no option for a manned crew.

On 23 April 2012, Northrop received a $262.3 million contract from the Navy to develop and build the newly designated MQ-8C Fire X. The contract calls for Northrop to build and test two developmental aircraft over a two year period. The company is also contracted to build six low-rate production aircraft at the same time over the next two years. The US Navy ultimately wants a total of 28 MQ-8Cs for naval forces.

General characteristics:
Payload: 1200 kg (2645 lb).
Length: 41 ft 8 in (12.7 m)
Rotor diameter: 35 ft 0 in (10.67 m)
Height: 11 ft 8 in (3.56 m)
Empty weight: 2,668 lb (1,210 kg)
Useful load: 2,347 lb (internal) (1,065 kg (internal))
Max. takeoff weight: 6,000 lb (2,722 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Allison 250-C47B turboshaft, 813 shp (606 kW)

Performance:
Maximum speed: 140 knots (260 km/h)
Cruise speed: 133 knots (152 mp/h, 246 km/h)
Range: 324 nmi (372 mi, 598 km)
Service ceiling: 20,000 ft (6,100 m)
 
Jeff Head

Jeff Head

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More on training of US Navy personnel for the MQ-8B Fire Scout rotary UAV:

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US Navy said:
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Northrop Grumman Corporation has established a new training facility for Fire Scout unmanned helicopter operators that offers improved flight simulators, hands-on aircraft maintenance and classroom instruction.

Opened July 10 at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., the Fire Scout Training Center will meet increasing demands for trained operators as the system is used more during deployments.

"Jacksonville has long been a hub for naval aviation," said George Vardoulakis, vice president for tactical unmanned systems at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.

"By centralizing training here, Northrop Grumman and the Navy can quickly prepare and keep operators current on Fire Scout capabilities."

New flight simulators were placed in the facility to improve the quality of training, incorporating lessons learned during the MQ-8B Fire Scout's recent land- and sea-based deployments.
Typical training lasts about six weeks because maintainers and pilots already gained technical training on manned helicopters such as the SH-60 Seahawk.

"This is a wonderful capability that bridges a significant gap in simulator availability," said Capt. Doug Ten Hoopen, commander, Helicopter Maritime Strike Wing, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. "As the Fire Scout program continues to mature and becomes self-sustainable when the new Fire Scout Fleet Replacement Squadron is officially stood up, Atlantic Fleet operators' immediate demand for simulation and training will be met through this state-of-the-art facility."

Fire Scout provides ship- and land-based commanders with critical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, using on-board sensors to capture full-motion video, identify targets and then distribute the information in real time to various users.

All four Fire Scout at-sea deployments originated from nearby Naval Station Mayport. The most recent deployment started in June on board the USS Klakring (FFG 42).
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asif iqbal

asif iqbal

Lieutenant General
Rotor UAV are future for many ships and also now underwater submersible UAV are being developments to fit into future ships to clear mines etc

This is one area which is seeing very big growth protential and BAE is working on both for new FFG for Royal Navy

And by the looks of it China is aso ahead in this game
 
N

NikeX

Banned Idiot
bd popeye said:
Nikex, what is that aircraft designation? and who old are those pictures? thanks!
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Here's what I have:

The first rotary-wing UAV entered military service in 1962—and remained in operation until 1997 was the Gyrodyne QH-50 D.A.S.H. (Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter)

In the 1950s and 1960s, Soviet nuclear-powered submarines began to proliferate. As part of a program to increase anti-submarine coverage, the U.S. Navy brought older destroyers back into service. Unable to fit a full-size helicopter onto the destroyer’s deck, the Navy looked for a solution. The service needed an aircraft armed with a Mk. 57 nuclear depth bomb or two torpedoes that could take out a Soviet submarine before it could come within striking distance of U.S. ships.

In the anti-submarine role, the QH-50 would start its mission on the flight deck of a destroyer, where it was connected to two umbilical cables: one to start the engine, the other to power the gyroscopes of the flight control system. From the safety of his station, the controller in the Combat Information Center disconnected the two umbilicals. If the umbilicals’ ejection buttons didn’t work, emergency release cables were pulled free by a more limber, lower-ranking crew member. “We became excellent duckers,” recalls Robert Mack, a former engine technician who was present at the donation ceremony and who served aboard the USS Fred T. Berry from 1965 to 1967.

This short video shows DASH in action

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Jeff Head

Jeff Head

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Registered Member
bd popeye said:
Nikex, what is that aircraft designation? and who old are those pictures? thanks!
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These co-axial (two counter-rotating helo props) rotary drones gave FRAM conversion destroyers that did not have a large enough area for a helo deck a stand-off ASW weapon/capability throughout the 1960s.

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The initial designation for the first production batch was the DASH, DSN-3. But this was changed to the QH-50C in 1962. They were powered by a 300 shp (225 kW) Boeing T50-8A turboshaft engine and 373 of those were built.

A more powerful engine was procurred along with some other refinements and they were put into production as the QH-50D. The larger 365 shp (272 kW) Boeing T50-12 turboshaft engine was used, it had fibreglass rotor blades and an increased fuel capacity. 377 of these "D" models were built.

Maximum speed was just over 90 miles per hour, but they cruised at around 60 miles per hour. They had a range of about 70 miles and a service ceiling of almost 17,000 feet. They could carry two MK 46 torpedoes, or one nuclear depth charge.

The program was cancelled in 1969 and US Fleet operations with them ceased in 1970. The Japanese used them too and their program with the JMSDF continued on until 1977. Some of the aircraft were kept and maintained and used by the Army. I believe as late as 2006 there were still a few in use on the White Sands missile range.
 
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bd popeye

bd popeye

The Last Jedi
VIP Professional
DASH! that's it! Now I remember. I saw movies about it ..but never saw a real one and I was stationed at NAS North Island for 7 years and that is home to the Pacific Fleet helos..
 
Jeff Head

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
bd popeye said:
DASH! that's it! Now I remember. I saw movies about it ..but never saw a real one and I was stationed at NAS North Island for 7 years and that is home to the Pacific Fleet helos..
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North Island, eh? Well, I am sure up through 1970 they would have been involved. They were first flown in early pre-production models in like 1959 when I was all of 3-4 years old. By the time they stopped using them in the US NAvy, I was 15 years old. Then, by the the time the Japanese stopped using them in '77 I was 21 years old and a few months away from getting married.

Time flies.

Now, here we are talinkg bout the Fore Scout and the Fire X. They will be a lot more capabnle in temrs of range and endurance...but it will still be awahile before they launch Mk-48s or even Mk-50s. Thta's what these babies were used for.

I think they should arm them with torps myself. Our capabilities with UAVs are far advanced over what we could do in the 60s, so with the longer range and endurance, they would add a good capability. The LCS vessels are designed to be equipped with them.

Still waiting for the ASW version of the Osprey thiough, that would give us back the legs we lost with the S-3s.
 
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