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Check Out the Navy’s New Weaponized Drone Helicopter

Nov. 11, 2011 3:23pm

The military is already equipped with drones carrying weapons, but they don’t necessarily have the hover skills of a helicopter. Robotic helicopters also were generally too small to carry weapons. Now, the U.S. Navy will get the best of both worlds as it signed a $17 million deal with Northrop Grumman Corp., to weaponize the MQ-8BΒ Fire Scout, which was already in use for surveillance missions without weapons in the Middle East.

(Related: See Texas’ new grenade launcher-equipped drone in action)

Navy Signs Deal to Weaponize Fire Scout Drone Helicopter

(Photo: Northrop Grumman)

The LA Times (via Business Insider) reports that the deal announced this week means the military is getting its first unmanned weaponized helicoptersΒ – 168 in total –Β for which delivery is expected by March 2013:

“It’s a very significant moment in naval history,” said Mark L. Evans, a historian at the Naval History and Heritage Command. “The weaponization of this aircraft represents a quantum leap in technology compared to what has come before.”

The military believes that the Fire Scout, which is remotely controlled by a pilot on a ship, is ideal in its ability to hover and attack hostile drug-runners, pirates and battleships.

According to the LA Times, the weapon-free version of the drone helicopters are already operating in Afghanistan and Libya where “Β the drone can spot hostile threats, but not eliminate them.”Β The weaponized Fire Scout will be able to do both:

“Arming the system is part of a natural evolution,” said Phil Finnegan, an aerospace expert with Teal Group Corp., a Fairfax, Va.-based research firm. As the technology moves forward, drones “will be expected to carry out more complex missions,” Finnegan said.

Watch the weapon-free version of Fire Scout here:

After this original story was posted, it came to our attention that this is not in fact the first weaponized drone helicopter for the Navy. DASH (Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter) was created in the 1960s.Β 

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Comments (77)

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  • eramthgin
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 11:05pm

    Not to worry…..it will get cut and we will be just that more defenseless.

    Report this comment

    eramthgin  
    • Armed Patriot
      Posted on November 12, 2011 at 10:49am

      Skynet is alive.

      Report this comment

      Armed Patriot  
    • RR_indy
      Posted on November 12, 2011 at 9:58pm

      The flight of a U.S. Navy unmanned helicopter into restricted airspace near the nation’s capital after operators lost control of the aircraft was a “learning experience” .
      Nothing to see, move along. Its only a robot helicopter with missiles…..
      27 AUG 2010

      Report this comment

      RR_indy  
    • RR_indy
      Posted on November 12, 2011 at 10:02pm

      The drone, a Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Navy Fire Scout, is supposed to have a failsafe system that directs it to land safely if it loses its communication link with the controller on the ground. That obviously didn’t happen on the drone’s Aug. 2 flight, and it made a beeline from Naval Air Station Patuxent River in southern Maryland, where it was being tested, toward Washington. It was roughly 40 miles from the capital before the Navy regained control.
      26 AUG 2010

      Report this comment

      RR_indy  
  • CaptainAttila
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 9:38pm

    Definitely NOT the navy’s first weaponized drone helicopter. The DASH program from the fifties has that honor.

    Report this comment

    CaptainAttila  
  • smokey888x2
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 7:53pm

    As if the present wasn’t enough, the future will turn inside out.

    Imagine, drone ‘bullets’, drone dissease, drone micro/macro combinations, anti-drone wars and on
    a 24 hour basis ….. It’s enough to make a liberal activate a premitive surrender.

    Report this comment

    smokey888x2  
  • macpappy
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 7:32pm

    I remember thinking, as a young man in the Navy after seeing my first F-14 Tomcat take off; “What will they think of next”. I imagined a lot, but I never thought of an unmanned chopper. American ingenuity is an awesome thing; unequaled throughout the world.

    Report this comment

    macpappy  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on November 11, 2011 at 8:26pm

      Obama has probably sold the technology to China already for a “promise” to not devalue our dollar any more. And of course, China will not keep any promise made to a weakling, bow down to everyone, socialist, Marxist POTUS. Do you remember Clinton selling our missile technology to China for campaign $$$? Obama will do the same.

      Report this comment

      The-Monk  
  • gentamicinman
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 7:18pm

    Excellent machine – glad it is in our arsenal.

    Reminds me of STNG episode 21 – Arsenal of Freedom – when that show aired we had nothing like this.

    How will it turn out? Guess someone in the future will find out.

    Report this comment

    gentamicinman  
  • Joyzee
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 6:23pm

    Where was this Built?…

    Report this comment

    Joyzee  
    • smokey888x2
      Posted on November 11, 2011 at 7:54pm

      China

      Report this comment

      smokey888x2  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on November 11, 2011 at 8:36pm

      Built in the USA from parts made in China and those made in China “chips” are controlled by China. Thus, this machine is subject to complete control by China.

      Report this comment

      The-Monk  
  • ObserverOnTheHill
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:55pm

    Glad to see my tax dollars continue to finance death and destruction. If one agrees that most conflict is about oil right now I think that the amount of money spent on war and arms could have bought every friggin’ drop of oil in the mid-east, saving us the loss of our fellow countrymen.

    Report this comment

    ObserverOnTheHill  
    • onebenjensen
      Posted on November 11, 2011 at 6:25pm

      the military keeps us free, drone helicopter, cool!!

      Report this comment

      onebenjensen  
    • mdbd
      Posted on November 11, 2011 at 6:48pm

      What a total & absolute dip **** we need to keep our military personnel as safe as possible & provide them with modern day equipment

      Report this comment

      mdbd  
    • macpappy
      Posted on November 11, 2011 at 7:28pm

      The idea is peace through strength. We have the biggest, most fearsome, military, and they are inclined to keep the peace. Better to have a large military than suffer the consequences of not having one. Which government in the world are you ready to live under, other than ours?

      Report this comment

      macpappy  
    • J.C. McGlynn
      Posted on November 11, 2011 at 10:21pm

      Many things used today are a direct result of the military. Cell phones,
      ambulances, EMT’s, micro-wave ovens, jeeps just to name a few.

      Report this comment

      J.C. McGlynn  
    • Anarcho Capitalist
      Posted on November 12, 2011 at 1:02am

      Hows that peace through strength working out again?

      Report this comment

      Anarcho Capitalist  
    • Armed Patriot
      Posted on November 12, 2011 at 11:02am

      Lets see… Nobama just killed 40,000 – 250,000 American Jobs by delaying the oil sands pipeline from Canada for N. American oil. Nobama killed 45,000 American jobs in the Gulf with his drilling moratorium. YOUR president isnt worried about oil, he wants us to buy it from the terrorists and islamists that he supports, not Americans or Canadians.

      …Hows that peace through strength working out again?
      Pretty damn good from what I can see. No major hits on US soil in over 10 years. No military attacks on the US since 1941. If the military were unleashed to do what a military is SUPPOSED to do, we would have been out of Iraq and Afghanashit many years ago.

      Anarcho Capitalist… Now there is an oxymoron… Kinda like a smart liberal. or a freedom loving liberal.

      Report this comment

      Armed Patriot  
    • HD Veteran
      Posted on November 12, 2011 at 7:02pm

      I think you miss the big picture on a regular basis.

      Report this comment

      HD Veteran  
  • Bro Geo Too
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:31pm

    With some minor changes to the exterior, we could make it look like a pterodactyl, paint the missiles a brownish, whitish gray, and have them shoot out of its arse. Now if that don’t strike fear into the hearts of the hostiles, I don’t know what would.

    Report this comment

    Bro Geo Too  
  • conservideo
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:20pm

    This is very cool, but scary at the same time. It’s good as long as you DON’T have a tyrannical government. Which is why we need to kick out the fascists ruling elites of this administration… and Oblamer is the head of the snake. I don’t like anyone being able to wield the Patriot Act, let alone Obama. I’m afraid a civil war is rising in our country and the radicals behind the OWS crowd are the ones running the show at present. Scary stuff. Like Reagan, I call’em like I see them.

    Report this comment

    conservideo  
  • One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:07pm

    I wanna see a brigade of these things armed and patrolling the southern border locked and loaded with cams rolling for youtube illegal kills. Put up signs across the border warning them is Spanish “you cross the border you be youtube material” and fire away/

    I don’t know what it will take for Americans to realize that Mexico is at war with us and has been, only they know they can’t win a war so they send the soldiers in to take over states on the border by populating them illegally. THEY WILL win the west if this isn’t checked and NOW with weaponry. Since Obama won’t protect the border agents, use drones to take em all out.

    We use this stuff to protect borders in Africa and the Middle East but not here. How whack is that?

    Report this comment

    One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew  
  • stillshocked
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:57pm

    IF we ever control our borders, can this be used there (as a deterrent of course).

    Report this comment

    stillshocked  
  • spfoam1
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:46pm

    Looks like it could fly between buildings and drop napalm on the OWS dregs.

    Report this comment

    spfoam1  
    • conservideo
      Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:10pm

      LOL! Not nice… But they haven’t been nice either.

      Report this comment

      conservideo  
    • Bill Rowland
      Posted on November 12, 2011 at 3:03pm

      No use them to drop flu germs. They wouldn’t last long if they were fighting to get in the port-a-potties. Spending most of your time with your pants down and your a** planted between your boots is very demoralizing. When you’re not hacing the runs you are vomiting all over your self.
      Boy what an image, I love it.

      OMG

      Report this comment

      Bill Rowland  
  • Sundowner
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:36pm

    Please, please, please bloggers, editors, and writers, there are no more “battleships”; use the proper term, “warship”. A battleship is a *specific type* of ship, as is a cruiser, a destroyer, a submarine, etc. All of them are warships and none is a battleship.

    It’s not really that hard and it helps retain credibility.

    Thanks from an ‘old salt’.

    Report this comment

    Sundowner  
  • Smaug090
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:24pm

    Skynets beginning O.O

    Report this comment

    Smaug090  
  • thegodfather
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:14pm

    The Empire had Imperial Probe Droids years ago.

    Report this comment

    thegodfather  
  • mrawfull
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:12pm

    War of the future is going to be like a real-time strategy game, where you select your units and point and click on a monitor to either patrol, defend or take down a target. There is going to be “smart” drones that engage the enemy when fired upon.

    Report this comment

    mrawfull  
  • sarcasticus
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:05pm

    It sounds like a Bell 407.

    Report this comment

    sarcasticus  
  • AIDANMAN
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:04pm

    great thing about a drone, no pesky morality to get in the way it it takes out things/people it shouldn’t be.
    then no one to tell about it later…

    Report this comment

    AIDANMAN  
    • 1casawizard
      Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:53pm

      We don’t need to use as many body bags using drones, at least not our body bags.

      Report this comment

      1casawizard  
  • isobamamadd
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:55pm

    guarantee those will eventually be used against civilians. Maybe sooner than u think!!!!

    Report this comment

    isobamamadd  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:57pm

      With Obama and his assassination list, which anyone can be put onto with no questions asked, these things probably already have killed US Citizens w/o trial or anything.

      Report this comment

      Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on November 11, 2011 at 7:42pm

      @SnowLeopard
      Like the next Republican candidate for President?

      Report this comment

      The-Monk  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on November 11, 2011 at 8:07pm

      @The Monk — if you mean the candidate will be Obamas next target; I rate it as a high probability. The man has no principles or any restraints, in addition to being insane.

      Report this comment

      Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • paleoman
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:51pm

    Thats the army of the future, thats one heck of a killing machine. I’m going to buy stocks in the makers of these bad boys.

    Report this comment

    paleoman  
  • NoMarxist
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:50pm

    Obama will probably cancel the drones, so they may redirect the money to provide chapels and chaplins for the militaries gay marriage program.

    Report this comment

    NoMarxist  
  • sawbuck
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:38pm

    Sky-net…anyone…?

    Report this comment

    sawbuck  
  • grayling646
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:34pm

    I want one.

    Report this comment

    grayling646  
  • Ironeagle
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:29pm

    We need these for OWS crowd control.

    Report this comment

    Ironeagle  
    • kapnkd
      Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:17pm

      Actually, we don’t need the expensive “MQ-8″ since Atlanta now has the low cost but deadly “TB” going for them already.

      Report this comment

      kapnkd  
  • DagneyT
    Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:29pm

    Let’s pray odrama doesn’t decide to use it on a TEA Party!

    Report this comment

    DagneyT  
    • CatB
      Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:33pm

      My first thought also .. I live along the Gulf of Mexico .. doesn’t make me feel any “safer” …

      TEA!

      Report this comment

      CatB  
    • NRABIBLETHUMPER
      Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:24pm

      Well, they are made right here on the Gulf Coast and we have the only FAA certified area to fly them right here (other than on a military base). Awesome piece of equipment!

      Report this comment

      NRABIBLETHUMPER  
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