An MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter successfully completed fully autonomous flight operations onboard the USS McInerney. This follows at-sea operations aboard the USS Nashville, which included the first autonomous ship landings by a Navy unmanned aerial vehicle. The Fire Scout, which eventually will be deployed on littoral combat ships, is scheduled to deploy on the McInerney for its next counter-narcotics trafficking deployment later this year. The ship is based at Mayport Naval Station, Fla. (Source: Northrop Grumman, 05/04/09) Gulf Coast note: Fire Scouts are built in part at the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Miss.; Austal USA builds a version of the LCS in Mobile, Ala.
