UAVs, not just an Air Force gig anymore

[Alpha_Echo_606]

12/23/2011
2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Fwd)
A detachment of Marines from Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 1 in Afghanistan completed their first unmanned aerial system cargo delivery in a combat zone, Dec. 17. The unmanned helicopter moved about 3,500 pounds of food and supplies from Camp Dwyer to troops at Combat Outpost Payne. The helicopter, an unmanned variant of the K-MAX, completed the delivery in about an hour and a half. By Cpl. Justin M. Boling

 

[Jim123]

Thread bump.

"Navy Grounds Firescout Drone Choppers"
http://defensetech.org/2012/04/10/navy-grounds-firescout-drone-choppers/

Something about one of them ditching after it couldn't land on the boat and possibly another one lost in the 'Stan.

(I wonder if the operators tried "up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A?")

 

[SynixMan]

Firescout Gen 3 is a Bell 407: http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/northrop-contracted-to-build-new-firescout-variant-371014/

Sounds pretty promising. More range and carry.

 

[Uncle Fester]

The E-2D is the only manned military aircraft still being built by Northrop-Grumman. Otherwise, we're all about UCAV, GH/BAMS and FireScout. The Iron Works has become Cyberdyne Systems.

 

[squorch2]

The E-2D is the only last manned military aircraft still being built by Northrop-Grumman.

FTFY

 

[MasterBates]

Fester, give me a heads up when the SupaHummer becomes self aware.

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[MasterBates]

And the unanswered question:

Would Ahnold have yelled "Get to the choppa!!" If it was a Firescout.

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[Uncle Fester]

Fester, give me a heads up when the SupaHummer becomes self aware.

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For the moment it's still the least sailor-proof airplane I've ever seen, and I'll leave it at that.

I don't think I totally buy the "last manned fighter" hyperbole quite yet. As the economists say, anything that can't last forever, won't. The experience of fighting a UAV-heavy force vs an enemy with his EW shit in one sock could easily lead to a shift back toward manned aircraft, at least for weapons delivery. We keep forgetting that, at least in terms of air warfare, we haven't exactly been fighting the varsity lately. UAVs were a big part of the answer to our current wars; that doesn't mean they're the permanent answer forever. Our older Air Warriors no doubt remember when nukes were the only weapons we'd ever need.

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[MasterBates]

I only saw the unicorn fly twice in Norfolk. I wonder if my old squadron (first fleet E-2D squadron) is actually going to fly at all after they turn in the C model at the end of the summer.

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[Swanee]

I only saw the unicorn fly twice in Norfolk. I wonder if my old squadron (first fleet E-2D squadron) is actually going to fly at all after they turn in the C model at the end of the summer.

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We dropped a bunch of E-2D ground support sailors off at Holloman while we were NALOing back from El Centro to Krock. They had 4 of them on the line there- right next to the QF-4s. Coincidence?

 

[Uncle Fester]

We dropped a bunch of E-2D ground support sailors off at Holloman while we were NALOing back from El Centro to Krock. They had 4 of them on the line there- right next to the QF-4s. Coincidence?

No. Any more than that should be moved to SIPR.

As far as I know, the D Fleet intro is on schedule. St Aug is building them at a steady, albeit very slow, pace. And it's a more challenging transition for aircrew to make than, say, the GII to HE2K. Roughly analogous to going from a C Hornet to a Rhino.

 

[Brett327]

Are the new Hummers being built from scratch or do they mod an existing airframe?

 

[Uncle Fester]

Completely from scratch. D's have almost nothing in common with C's except the airframe and the ass-killing seats.

 

[MasterBates]

D's have almost nothing in common with C's except the airframe and the ass-killing seats.

Which had seats recycled from the E-2B, which had them recycled from the S-2F.

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[Uncle Fester]

I don't know about the seats' lineage, just that the design's the same, mostly so they could use the same chutes/PSE across the fleet. Slightly different engines, same props (ugh). The airframe is the same basic design, but required some major changes to the internal structure due to the new equipment. I don't think it'd be physically possible to mod a C to a D.