Fire Scout UAV joins LCS

Fire Scout UAV joins LCS

This post is also available in: heעברית (Hebrew)

MQ-8B Fire Scout UAV
MQ-8B Fire Scout UAV

The U.S. Navy is sending one of its LCSs (Littoral Control Ship) to the West Pacific equipped with four MQ-8B Fire Scout UAVs on board. There is already a frigate in the Mediterranean with several MQ-8Bs and a Coast Guard cutter in California has been equipped with an MQ-8B.

According to StrategyPage, in late 2013, the U.S. Navy completed testing the use of the MQ-8B Fire Scout UAV on the LCS. This included testing for the UCARS (UAV Common Automated Recovery System) used on the LCS.

Unmanned systems conference 2014 – Israel

AUS&R ban_ 960x300

UCARS is the new standard UAV landing system for navy ships. UCARS sends out a signal to UAVs when they are several kilometers away and automatically guides them into a landing on the ship. This works with helicopter or fixed wing UAVs.

The LCS is a unique class of frigate size (about 3,000 tons) ships.

The LCS was designed from the start to operate a helicopter UAV (and other remotely controlled surface and subsurface vehicles). The LCS was designed to carry a one manned helicopter and one or two UAV helicopters. The recent testing makes it possible to begin equipping all LCS ships with the MQ-8B.