In the spring of 2000, the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) awarded an Engineering, Manufacturing and Development (EMD) contract to the Northrop Grumman Ryan Aeronautical Center for the development of the RQ-8A Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV). One of the provisions in the VTUAV Operation Requirements Document (ORD) was that the VTUAV should provide a deck restraining capability to secure the aircraft to the ship deck during launch and recovery operations. Based on known ground resonance tendencies of the parent aircraft in the Schweizer Model 269 family, early concerns were raised as to the ground resonance stability of the RQ-8A Fire Scout while restrained to the ship deck. This paper details a unique manned-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) qualification approach adopted to verify the ground resonance stability of the RQ-8A Fire Scout while secured with the Light Harpoon shipboard deck restraint mechanism and describes the results of combined manned and unmanned verification flight testing. Also included, is a discussion of the overall VTUAV program, air vehicle lineage and development overview, analytical approaches, component tests, ground vibration test and test planning that led to a successful ground resonance stability flight test program. The approach adopted was shown to be applicable for Naval rotary wing UAVs, like the RQ-8A, and has been subsequently embraced for the MQ-8B Fire Scout follow-on program.
展开▼
