Elevated platform

“What we got out of that [adopting the Bell 407 airframe] was something that has more than twice the payload capacity and we upped the endurance from the four-five hours to the 10-12 range,” Captain Jeff Dodge, the US Navy’s program manager for Fire Scout, told Australian media in January.

“So it really gives us a lot of capacity out of a single aircraft.”

Capt Dodge explained the transition from the MQ-8B to the C-model was effectively a “brain transplant”, where the avionics and sensors were installed in the larger Bell 407-based airframe.

“Testing and development is now largely complete, with a few final test events to be accomplished which require ship time at sea and so are dependent on ship availability,” Capt Dodge said of the MQ-8C’s development.

The Fire Scout, explained Dodge, was designed to provide surface ships with far greater situational awareness than can be offered by a ship’s surface search radar or ship-based helicopters with their relatively short endurance.

“Building that situational awareness means that you need presence. Right now your typical ship has got a radar on the mast, you’ve got lookouts on the bridge, and you can see to that radar horizon – 20 to 30 miles – and you can pretty much control that seaspace,” explained Capt Dodge.

“With a helicopter now I’ve got an elevated platform, I can get away from the ship and as long as that aircraft is up there I can expand my horizon to 100, 125 miles. Now I really know everything that is going on and I have a chance to influence it.”

That’s where Fire Scout, with its electro-optical and search radar sensors, plus 10-12 hour endurance, can come into its own.

“Most ships will only move at 30kt so if I come up [with a Fire Scout] every three hours I’ll know of everything that is within 100 miles so now I can keep that situational awareness not just when the aircraft is up but for all day long, for really extended periods of time.

“By expanding that bubble of control you get a lot more effect from a single vessel.”

While development of the Fire Scout air vehicle is nearly complete, the system will be subject to ongoing upgrades and enhancements, such as the recently-announced integration of the Selex Osprey electronically-scanned array radar.

Longer-term, the Fire Scout may also gain anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

“We have several research projects on for a lightweight, easilyadaptable ASW pod solution so that would incorporate maybe a sonar buoy launcher, maybe a magnetic anomaly detector, so we’re researching some of that,” said Capt Dodge.

That shows the potential adaptability of the Fire Scout design and its prospects for further development.

But in the nearer term, says Capt Dodge: “We still need to get these out in the field and really learn how we are going to use them in the maritime environment, because this is a fairly new capability. While it looks very much the same as what we’ve been doing with manned aviation there are some nuances and differences that we really need to explore, get them used at sea, [learn] how people are asking for them and take the next step in refining it.”

The Fire Scout is of potential interest to the Royal Australian Navy for operation off its forthcoming Future Frigates and Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs).

Defence’s Integrated Investment Program (IIP), released in 2016, lists the planned acquisition of a ship-based tactical UAV.

“To improve the situational awareness of ships on operations, we will acquire a new tactical unmanned intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft system that will complement other sensors and systems by extending the area able to be held under surveillance,” the IIP reads.

Elsewhere the IIP also notes that the Hobart class Air Warfare Destroyers (AWDs) will also embark “tactical unmanned systems”.

These programs are taking shape in the form of SEA 129 Phase 5 Stage 1 for a VTUAV for the OPVs and SEA 129 Phase 5 Stage 2 for the Future Frigates and AWDs.