Check Out the Navy’s New Weaponized Drone Helicopter
- Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:23pm by
Liz Klimas
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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-8B 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)
(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 helicopters – 168 in total – 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 “ the drone can spot hostile threats, but not eliminate them.” 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.
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Comments (77)
eramthgin
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 11:05pmNot to worry…..it will get cut and we will be just that more defenseless.
Report Post »Armed Patriot
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 10:49amSkynet is alive.
Report Post »RR_indy
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 9:58pmThe 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” .
Report Post »Nothing to see, move along. Its only a robot helicopter with missiles…..
27 AUG 2010
RR_indy
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 10:02pmThe 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.
Report Post »26 AUG 2010
CaptainAttila
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 9:38pmDefinitely NOT the navy’s first weaponized drone helicopter. The DASH program from the fifties has that honor.
Report Post »J.C. McGlynn
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 10:02pmThought I was the only person left in the world who remembers the Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter.
Report Post »clawless
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 11:21pmThe navy used that torpedo dropping chopper to give the russian subs a bad time. It could carry other stuff like skinks if things really hir the fan.
Report Post »MotoLeo2
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 7:38amI remember DASH as well.This thing is obviously a lot smarter. I almost got blown off a DASH pad on my ship in a bad storm.
Report Post »DT
1marinesthoughts
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 10:14amhttp://www.gyrodynehelicopters.com/dash_history.htm
Report Post »smokey888x2
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 7:53pmAs 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
Report Post »a 24 hour basis ….. It’s enough to make a liberal activate a premitive surrender.
macpappy
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 7:32pmI 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 Post »The-Monk
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 8:26pmObama 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 Post »gentamicinman
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 7:18pmExcellent 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 Post »Joyzee
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 6:23pmWhere was this Built?…
Report Post »smokey888x2
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 7:54pmChina
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 8:36pmBuilt 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 Post »ObserverOnTheHill
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:55pmGlad 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 Post »onebenjensen
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 6:25pmthe military keeps us free, drone helicopter, cool!!
Report Post »mdbd
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 6:48pmWhat a total & absolute dip **** we need to keep our military personnel as safe as possible & provide them with modern day equipment
Report Post »macpappy
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 7:28pmThe 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 Post »J.C. McGlynn
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 10:21pmMany things used today are a direct result of the military. Cell phones,
Report Post »ambulances, EMT’s, micro-wave ovens, jeeps just to name a few.
Anarcho Capitalist
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 1:02amHows that peace through strength working out again?
Report Post »Armed Patriot
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 11:02amLets 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 Post »HD Veteran
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 7:02pmI think you miss the big picture on a regular basis.
Report Post »Bro Geo Too
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:31pmWith 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 Post »conservideo
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:20pmThis 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 Post »One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:07pmI 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 Post »drphil69
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:15pmI AGREE!
Thanks!
Report Post »szretired
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 6:09pmAmen!!!
Report Post »stillshocked
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:57pmIF we ever control our borders, can this be used there (as a deterrent of course).
Report Post »spfoam1
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:46pmLooks like it could fly between buildings and drop napalm on the OWS dregs.
Report Post »conservideo
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:10pmLOL! Not nice… But they haven’t been nice either.
Report Post »Bill Rowland
Posted on November 12, 2011 at 3:03pmNo 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 Post »Sundowner
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:36pmPlease, 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 Post »garylee123
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:44pmThank you for your service.
Report Post »dread_pirate_roberts
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:59pmARRRRHG! Right ye be, and I too thank ye for yer service to this great country. We stand together, or fall apart!
Report Post »1casawizard
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:49pmThis chopper looks like a sub but I bet it gets the job done.
Report Post »GdHUs
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 7:23pmWell exkuuuuuuuuuuz me!
Report Post »Truthspinner7
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 11:03pmThank you, Sundowner…In this case, a little instruction teaches a lot…Like most people, I had no idea….
Report Post »Smaug090
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:24pmSkynets beginning O.O
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:06pmWe are going to need EMP guns!
Report Post »Jeff E.
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 6:39pmYeah. Way too much like HK’s if you ask me.
Report Post »thegodfather
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:14pmThe Empire had Imperial Probe Droids years ago.
Report Post »Smaug090
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:21pmLol
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:25pmWeapon platforms have No Opinions nor Morals to get in the way of Tyrany!
Report Post »ShyLow
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:38pmOr Liberty…But if we don‘t make’em someone else will
Report Post »mrawfull
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:12pmWar 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 Post »sarcasticus
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:05pmIt sounds like a Bell 407.
Report Post »AIDANMAN
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:04pmgreat thing about a drone, no pesky morality to get in the way it it takes out things/people it shouldn’t be.
Report Post »then no one to tell about it later…
1casawizard
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:53pmWe don’t need to use as many body bags using drones, at least not our body bags.
Report Post »isobamamadd
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:55pmguarantee those will eventually be used against civilians. Maybe sooner than u think!!!!
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:57pmWith 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 Post »The-Monk
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 7:42pm@SnowLeopard
Report Post »Like the next Republican candidate for President?
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 Post »paleoman
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:51pmThats 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 Post »NoMarxist
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:50pmObama will probably cancel the drones, so they may redirect the money to provide chapels and chaplins for the militaries gay marriage program.
Report Post »sawbuck
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:38pmSky-net…anyone…?
Report Post »SICKOFLIBSBULSH
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:44pmI can’t wait until they become “self aware”, it’ll be fun!!!!!!!!
Report Post »In detroit
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:52pmExsactly what I Said great weapon til its used on us
Report Post »CatB
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:55pmHave you been to T2 at Universal??? ;-)
Report Post »grayling646
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:34pmI want one.
Report Post »Ironeagle
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:29pmWe need these for OWS crowd control.
Report Post »kapnkd
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 4:17pmActually, we don’t need the expensive “MQ-8“ since Atlanta now has the low cost but deadly ”TB” going for them already.
Report Post »DagneyT
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:29pmLet‘s pray odrama doesn’t decide to use it on a TEA Party!
Report Post »CatB
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 3:33pmMy first thought also .. I live along the Gulf of Mexico .. doesn’t make me feel any “safer” …
TEA!
Report Post »NRABIBLETHUMPER
Posted on November 11, 2011 at 5:24pmWell, 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!
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