Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy recently conducted an 11-hour endurance flight of the MQ-8C Fire Scout, setting a record for the unmanned helicopter. Operators flew the aircraft out to 150 nm from the Point Mugu test range in southern California, part of Naval Base Ventura County.

The long-range endurance flight took place on July 10, but Northrop Grumman announced it more than a month later on August 25. The flight was part of a series of capability tests the Navy is conducting to validate its concept of operations for the MQ-8C, which is based on the single-engine Bell 407 helicopter. The Fire Scout completed the flight with more than an hour of fuel in reserve.

The MQ-8C’s performance “matches our model exactly. With adjustments, our production aircraft will have 12 hours of total endurance on a standard day,” said George Vardoulakis, Northrop Grumman vice president of medium range tactical systems. “Increased time-on-station and fewer launch and recovery cycles better enables the Navy's diverse missions.”

Powered by an upgraded Rolls-Royce 250-C47E turboshaft, the MQ-8C is designed to fly twice as long or with three times the payload capacity of the Navy’s current MQ-8B Fire Scout, which is based on the smaller Sikorsky-Schweizer 333. Its missions include providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissace, target acquisition and laser designation of targets in support of other naval assets.

Northrop Grumman and the Navy conducted the first flight of the MQ-8C on Oct. 31, 2013 from Point Mugu. They flew the helicopter for the first time off the guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham on Dec. 16, 2014, off the Virginia coast.

The Navy’s requirement is for 40 MQ-8C systems, consisting of two airframes each, to support Littoral Combat Ship and other air-capable vessels. It has ordered 19 of the helicopters, including two test aircraft. Northrop Grumman performs final assembly at its unmanned systems center in Moss Point, Miss.