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Home» News»First deployed MQ-8Cs will be equipped with Leonardo AN/ZPY-8 radar
MQ-8C Fire Scout VTOL UAV
MQ-8C Fire Scout VTOL UAV first flight with the AN/ZPY-8 radar occurred Feb. 27. Photo credit: U.S. Navy

First deployed MQ-8Cs will be equipped with Leonardo AN/ZPY-8 radar

The U.S. Navy, with support from Northrop Grumman Corporation, commenced flight testing of the MQ-8C Fire Scout equipped with the Leonardo AN/ZPY-8 radar.

Xavier Vavasseur 08 May 2020

“The AN/ZPY-8 radar significantly increases Fire Scout’s detection and tracking of targets. The ability to simultaneously employ multiple modes supports U.S. Navy intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance requirements. This increased capability enables Fire Scout to extend ranges to meet emerging requirements.”



Melissa Packwood, program manager, tactical autonomous systems, Northrop Grumman

Operating out of Webster Outlying Field, the MQ-8C’s first flight with the radar occurred Feb. 27. Testing began with several weeks of ground test prior to the first flight and continues to progress as the Navy and Northrop Grumman consider mission expansion opportunities for the platform. 

To date, Northrop Grumman has delivered 32 of 38 MQ-8Cs to the Navy, all of which will be retrofit with the AN/ZPY-8 radar. The MQ-8C achieved initial operational capability in June 2019 and is scheduled for its first deployment in 2021.

-Ends-

Naval News comment: AN/ZPY-8 is also known as Leonardo’s Osprey MM multi-mode surveillance radar. It is an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) surveillance radar. According to Leonardo, Osprey MM is particularly well suited to unmanned air systems (UAS) operations, with very high reliability for persistent surveillance, and difficult target detection capability from high altitude, facilitating platform line of sight (LoS) communications and improved platform fuel efficiency.

Fire Scout Leonardo MQ-8C US Navy VTOL UAV 2020-05-08
Tags Fire Scout Leonardo MQ-8C US Navy VTOL UAV
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Authors

Posted by : Xavier Vavasseur
Xavier is based in Paris, France. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems and a Master of Business Administration from Florida Institute of Technology (FIT). Xavier has been covering naval defense topics for nearly a decade.

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