Aircraft

Northrop Grumman has upgraded the US Army's MQ-5B Hunter unmanned air vehicle with an automatic take-off and landing system, removing the need for a human pilot to manage the launch and recovery process.

The automatic system has already been fielded after a successful demonstration at Ft Huachuca, Arizona, where the army conducts training for unmanned aircraft systems such as the MQ-5B.

Northrop says the Hunter has been equipped with a differential GPS navigation system, which calculates the vehicle's precise location in relation to pre-surveyed points on a runway.

© Northrop Grumman
The armed MQ-5B now carries GPS-guided Viper Strike weapons

The company has also received a $39 million contract to continue supporting the army's units that operate MQ-5Bs in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Adding the automatic take-off and landing system keeps the MQ-5B on par with the capabilities of the General Atomics MQ-1C Sky Warrior.

The army started buying non-weaponised RQ-5Bs in 1996. The aircraft were upgraded with laser-guided weapons five years ago, and the first armed MQ-5B dropped a laser-guided bomb in 2007. More recently, the army has upgraded the type to also carry the GPS-guided Viper Strike munition.

Northrop also has disclosed that it has integrated an all-new avionics suite on the MQ-5B. The upgrade includes a new flight and mission computer, auxiliary power distribution unit, LN-251 inertial navigation system with GPS and an APX-119 interrogation friend-or-foe transponder.