UAVs

Video footage of the Northrop Grumman MQ-8A Navy Fire Scout unmanned helicopter on its maiden flight surfaced this week.

The US Navy's vertical take-off and landing tactical unmanned air vehicle (formerly the RQ-8A) made its first flight at the Webster Field annex of Patuxent River Naval air station, in St. Inigoes, Maryland.

Navy blog site Naval Open Source Intelligence has obtained a copy of the previously unavailable Northrop Grumman video sequence and posted it on the file sharing site YouTube.

During flight test, three scenarios were tested including a landing on a ship. Other software tests included the command for launch abort.