US navy deploys Ship-Based MQ-8C unmanned Helicopter

The US Navy has operationally deployed the MQ-8C Fire Scout autonomous helicopter aboard the USS Milwaukee.

The Northrop Grumman next-generation ship-based aircraft is an upgrade on the MQ-8B uncrewed helicopter serving US Navy Littoral Combat Ships in the 5th and 7th Fleets.

The MQ-8C’s range of 1,000 nautical miles is 10 times its predecessor’s. Its flight endurance of over 10 hours is more than three times that of the MQ-8B, providing a tremendous leap in intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and real-time, over-the-horizon targeting capability.

The aircraft can operate from a range of vessels and is capable of autonomously taking off and landing on “any aviation-capable ship and from prepared and unprepared landing zones.”