Northrop Grumman [NOC] this week said it recently completed a four-day, multi-mission demonstration of its Firebird optionally-piloted intelligence and surveillance aircraft platform, featuring the rapid integration of a new sensor for broad area surveillance.
The demonstration, which consisted of four 10-plus hour manned flights on four consecutive days, included integration of Overwatch Imaging
’s TK-9 Earthwatch sensor for missions such as route clearance, search and rescue, and fire hotspot detection. The aircraft had 100 percent availability for day and night operations.
The Firebird system, which is designed for the broad global security and civil market, also performed pattern of life monitoring, high-value subject tracking, and hostage recovery missions, during the demonstration.
The latest flights demonstrated the “affordability of the system” through its various mission sets, use of different sensors, and crew of five, which includes two pilots and personnel on the ground, Jon Haun, director of the Firebird product line and strategy for Northrop Grumman, told Defense Daily in a telephone interview on July 14. The platform is very flexible and can “satisfy a broad set of mission demands” flexibly and affordably, he said.
The company also touts the open architecture design of Firebird for enabling rapid integration of new sensors for different missions.
In a previous demonstration, Firebird flew in the morning and then during lunch, new payloads were swapped out and a different mission was flown in the afternoon, Haun said, adding that the aircraft can accommodate payloads that haven’t been integrated on it previously.
Shortly, Firebird will be used as an unmanned platform at a range in North Dakota to prove out different applications, he said. In unmanned mode, Firebird can remain aloft for more than 30 hours.
In 2019, Northrop Grumman signed agreements with Grand Sky Development Company and Tenax Aerospace for rights to purchase Firebird. The companies use the aircraft and sensors for commercial applications such as data collection and flood plain mapping and as a special mission aircraft for government customers.
Haun said the company is closing in on a deal with an international customer for Firebird.