SAN DIEGO, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Northrop Grumman has been contracted to conduct a demonstration of its unmanned aircraft system to test and validate the technology for the U.S. Coast Guard.
U.S. company ABS Group is working on a contract providing the Coast Guard Research and Development Center with systems engineering and technical assistance. As part of the contract, ABS selected Northrop Grumman to demonstrate its MQ-8B Fire Scout tactical vertical UAS technology.
The demonstration is designed to verify the Fire Scout as ship-based UAS and test its payload capabilities. The test is expected to take place at the Naval Air Station at Patuxent River in Maryland.
"This is a great opportunity to demonstrate that Fire Scout is a mature vertical UAS that has the capability, modularity, and flexibility to provide a wide area surveillance capability for the domestic and international customers, including the U.S. Coast Guard," Doug Fronius, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems director of Tactical Unmanned Systems, said in a statement.
