By Geoff Fein
The Navy is expected to begin dynamic interface testing aboard the USS McInerney (FFG-8) next month with the Fire Scout vertical takeoff unmanned aerial system (VTUAV), completing testing begun earlier this month.
Northrop Grumman‘s [NOC] Fire Scout won’t get much rest this year. Once the dynamic interface tests are completed in late April, the system will prepare for another test period in early May followed by operational evaluation (OPEVAL) in June, Capt. Tim Dunigan, Fire Scout program manager, told Defense Daily in a recent interview.
Earlier this month, testing aboard the McInerney was cut short due to the weather. The Navy agreed to wrap up the tests in late April.
“That first week, [April] 20 to 24…what we are hoping to do is clear all of the wind envelopes that we require along with our pitch and roll limitations. The threshold requirements for pitch and roll are 3 degrees pitch, 5 degrees roll, and the objective we are trying to get to is 5 degrees pitch and 8 degrees of roll,” Dunigan said.
“We will start off with some relatively calm winds over the deck at different angles with respect to the bow of the ship. We will vary that, and do launches and recoveries and see how the aircraft handles. Then [we’ll] have the ship speed up and continue to increase the wind over the deck. It’s an iterative process.”
Of course, the weather has to be a willing participant, Dunigan joked.
“It’s an interesting dilemma I have. I have to find calm enough weather to start the test and then I need a storm to come by for the extra pitch and roll I need along with the higher wind speeds,” he said. “And that’s one of the problems we have always had with dynamic interface testing. If you don’t have any more than 5 knots of wind, it’s impossible to get 20 knots of wind abeam the ship or astern the ship. It’s just tough.”
That means the McInerney crew will have to look for rougher weather, Dunigan said.
Weather permitting, if all goes well and Fire Scout can wrap up the make-up tests on April 24, the VTUAV will head right into another five-day test period beginning May 4. Those tests could possibly include some mission scenarios as a sort of dress rehearsal for OPEVAL, he added.
Dunigan said there is an Operational Test Readiness Review (OTRR) planned for early June. “It’s an aggressive date for us; we are trying to hold [to] it.”
OTRR could give Dunigan the thumbs-up to officially complete the development portion.
“The reason to have that conference is to tell the operational testers that we have turned over the aircraft and we are ready for you to begin testing,” Dunigan said.
Following OPEVAL, the Navy will deploy two Fire Scouts aboard the McInerney as she begins a tour in the United States Southern Command area of responsibility.
“It is the official first deployment. It’s an interesting thing because it’s how we define initial operational capability (IOC). IOC generally…to the best of my knowledge…is not usually defined with the first time we deploy something but it’s the first time it’s ready to be deployed,” he said. “Our definition is a trained crew with aircraft, spares, and all operational testing complete. So our first deployment happened to coincide with that exact time period.”
Dunigan’s program office continues to work closely with the Littoral Combat Ship program office and crew. He said Fire Scout will do dynamic interface testing, similar to what is being done on the McInerney. “We are planning on doing that as soon as that test period becomes available.”
“We have a ship integration team that works very closely with PMS-420, the LCS mission package program office,” he added.
The Navy does have a growth plan for future Fire Scout payloads, but for the time being, the VTUAV will carry FLIR‘s [FLIR] BRITE Star II electro optical infrared sensor and Northrop Grumman’s Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis (COBRA) multispectral camera for mine detection, Dunigan noted. Fire Scout also has three Rockwell Collins [COL] ARC-210 radios that enable Fire Scout to act as a communications relay. “Those are the payloads that are funded right now.”
“Every time we do budget cycles that gets briefed and discussed, and it changes based upon priorities. My expectation is once we get Fire Scout operational that they will be able to have a much more comfortable feeling about which they, the OPNAV staff, [see as] the next priority payload to put on Fire Scout,” Dunigan said.
The program is currently in the midst of selecting a maritime radar for the platform, Dunigan noted.
The Navy did a sole source contract with Northrop Grumman for selection of the radar. The company will write the request for proposal and select a radar, he added. Of course, the Navy does have the right to reject the company’s choice, but Dunigan added that that scenario is unlikely
“The primary thing we are looking for is a maritime radar and we want ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance). Right now Fire Scout is equipped with EOIR…BRITE Star II. [It’s] a very capable camera, but no matter how capable it is, it can’t compare to a radar system as far as detection capability,” Dunigan said.
He added that need is for a maritime radar with inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) capability.
“The requirements are fairly targeted right now with a threshold limit, and some of the objectives with some of the growth aspects of it…moving target indicator, SAR (synthetic aperture radar), weather mode,” Dunigan said. “It’s not a requirement right now but we are trying to keep an eye on growth into an air-to-air capability because of the UAV sense and avoid problem with flight in the national air space.
“Since the FAA hasn’t told us what we need to do to fly a UAV in the national airspace…we think a radar might help fulfill some of the requirements they may levy. So that’s something we keep in mind.”
But not knowing what the requirements are, Dunigan noted it makes it tough to ask a radar vendor for a particular capability.
“Whatever we do it’s probably going to be something that has a growth capability to it,” he said.
Northrop Grumman is expected to make its radar choice by the end of the fiscal year, Dunigan said. In FY ’10 the Navy will be doing the integration work, which includes both the physical integration of components as well as the data integration.
In FY ’11, the system will go into OPEVAL and then IOC in later in FY ’11, he added.
“When you get the specifics of the actual radar and we know which one it is, we will then have a much better idea of the scope and schedule,” he said. “It’s fairly broad right now. I keep pushing my team…earlier is better…and then there’s the fact of…it takes a certain amount of time to do all this work.”