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    1. Commercial Aerospace

    Fire-X vertical unmanned aircraft completes first flight

    Dec. 17, 2010
    SAN DIEGO, 17 Dec. 2010. Fire-X, a vertical unmanned air system (VUAS) developed by Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC) and Bell Helicopter, a Textron company (NYSE:TXT), completed its first fully autonomous flight at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., less than one year after development began. First flight involved a short-duration hover to validate safe and reliable autonomous flight.
    Pennwell web 120 79
    Pennwell web 120 79
    Posted by John McHaleSAN DIEGO, 17 Dec. 2010. Fire-X, a vertical unmanned air system (VUAS) developed by Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC) and Bell Helicopter, a Textron company (NYSE:TXT), completed its first fully autonomous flight at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., less than one year after development began. First flight involved a short-duration hover to validate safe and reliable autonomous flight. First flight was achieved by integrating the Fire Scout UAS's autonomous systems developed for the U.S. Navy with the Bell 407 helicopter. The 407 system can carry intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) sensors and a useful load of more than 3,200 pounds -- for fuel, payloads and/or enhanced cargo hauling capabilities -- internally or externally. Fire-X will also be able to conduct ISR missions as long as 16 hours in endurance and various cargo missions in support of U.S. Army and Marine Corps requirements."The speed which Fire-X was developed shows that a low-risk, fast-track solution can be safely flown using the proven MQ-8B Fire Scout's unmanned systems autonomous flight architecture," says Paul Meyer, sector vice president and general manager of the Advanced Programs and Technology Division at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. "We developed a VUAS that meets growing needs for cargo and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. We can now expand Fire-X's operational capabilities to meet emerging U.S. military requirements in all the services and Special Operations Command."Additional flight tests and reliability data gathering will be conducted in the coming weeks. Integration of ISR sensor payloads and cargo carrying capability test flights is set to occur early next year.The Fire-X demonstration aircraft will retain the ability to be optionally piloted -- a capability which may appeal to military users because of its added operational flexibility."We've been able to share key insights throughout development -- allowing a seamless transition of autonomous flight systems software to a new airframe," says George Spongberg, Northrop Grumman Fire-X program manager.

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