Fire Scout Makes First Autonomous Shipboard Landings

摘要

Naval aviation history was made in late January with the first autonomous shipboard landings ever made by an unmanned aerial vehicle. The RQ-8A Fire Scout vertical takeoff and landing tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (VTUAV) — designed and built by Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems — completed nine autonomous landings onboard the amphibious platform dock ship USS Nashville Jan. 16 and 17 in the Chesapeake Bay. Two RQ-8As were used during the nine hours of test flights.