America’s only combat casualty in Libya had no way of defending itself, when it was taken out by a heavy anti-aircraft weapon. But that’s about to change. The U.S. Navy’s Fire Scout unmanned helicopter is poised to start test-firing rockets. By the end of next year, it should be fully weaponized.
On June 21st, the U.S.S. Halyburton dispatched one of its two Fire Scouts to a known stronghold of forces loyal to Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The unmanned helicopter flew over the hostile zone, snapping video as it went and beaming the footage back to the ship. The Fire Scouts had flown as many as 15 such missions over Libya before. But this one was different. This time, the video suddenly stopped.
An inquiry later concluded that the helicopter had been shot down. Rear Admiral Bill Shannon, the Navy officer in charge of unmanned aviation, added a bit more detail, noting that a heavy anti-aircraft weapon brought the helicopter out of the sky.
“This was not small-arms fire. There were large weapons in the area. Looking at the intel, there wasn’t anything we would’ve put in there that wouldn’t have been at high risk.”
In Afghanistan, three Fire Scouts flew 950 hours out of a remote base in Kunduz province over the last seven months. Lately, they’ve spent more time in the air, logging north of 400 hours per month, while a team of 20 Northrop Grumman contractors and seven sailors fly and maintain the vehicles.
Another pair of Fire Scouts, on board the Halyburton, saw action from the Indian Ocean to the Straits of Hormuz to the southern Mediterranean. The helicopters tracked suspected pirates, and watched over a Yemeni fishing boat that had been stranded at sea for 10 days, until the Halyburton’s crew could come over to help. All in all, the drones ran 126 missions and flew for 436 hours.
Shannon’s confident enough in the helicopters that the Navy has asked Congress for the money to nearly double its order of Fire Scouts, to 57. The Navy could provide an additional 28 upgraded Fire Scouts to Special Operations Command over the next three years. And in the next few weeks, the Fire Scout — first envisioned as an armed drone, back in the late 90s — is going to start firing weapons again. The first tests will be with the laser-guided Griffin missile, which carries at 13-pound warhead. Trials with the 2.75-inch rockets of the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System are expected to follow. 18 months from now, if all goes according to plan, the Fire Scout will be once again on combat missions — this time, fully armed.
Source: Wired Danger Room