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So, HTs now have a new selection out of Advanced?

webmaster

The Grass is Greener!
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Helo UAV.jpg

Check out this picture from yesterday's flight! What a breakthrough year for Naval Aviation! The first flight of the MQ-4C Triton, the first carrier-based arrested landing of the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator, and now the first flight of the Navy’s newest variant of the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter -- the MQ-8C Fire Scout!

So... HTs now have a new selection out of Advanced? :D
 

lowflier03

So no $hit there I was
pilot
Not sure anyone higher up has figured out where selection for those expensive pieces of junk will take place. Last push I heard was post fleet tour LT's even though they would be extremely overqualified for what the job really requires. I know some WWS guys who are gonna get anally raped with a tour at HUQ-1 instead of doing an actual super JO gig. Say bye bye to all that expensive WTI training and probably minimal chances at getting back in a normal cockpit after that tour.
 

lowflier03

So no $hit there I was
pilot
Considering that there is one for each wing, WINGPAC and WINGLANT, WWS is appropriate, or the fact that it's technically the Rotary Wing Weapons School. You might be thinking of WTU?
 

helolumpy

Apprentice School Principal
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The Triton plan is to have pilots go there for their shore tour.
Since it can be flown from any control station in the world, it can be "shore duty" since you're home every night.

Tough to do that with this though....
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
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Maybe they can select someone out of the HTs to run the program better.

I know some WWS guys who are gonna get anally raped with a tour at HUQ-1 instead of doing an actual super JO gig.

Not anymore. HUQ-1 is pretty much dead. "RAG" seems to be staying with HSC, operational use will be on the HSM side. At least until the plan changes again. The Reserves have pretty much covered the Naval FS program the last 2+ years, but I'm not sure if they'll still be used or not as HSM comes online with it.
 

lowflier03

So no $hit there I was
pilot
Interesting, HSCPAC CDRE was touting HUQ-1 pretty heavily. My buddy was sent through the specialized school with the intent of him being a SME and training guys, etc.

As far as flying it from home, I don't see that happening. The whole point of wasting money and resources on an unmanned helo was to keep it (and the operator) close to its customers. For the money and time we've wasted on this and firescout, we could have sourced a Global Hawk, Predator, Reaper, etc variant and just had them overhead when we think they would be needed. For the cost and foresight required to move a ship, crew and robot to an area, we could easily move/keep more economical UAV's onstation.
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
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Interesting, HSCPAC CDRE was touting HUQ-1 pretty heavily. My buddy was sent through the specialized school with the intent of him being a SME and training guys, etc.

As far as flying it from home, I don't see that happening. The whole point of wasting money and resources on an unmanned helo was to keep it (and the operator) close to its customers. For the money and time we've wasted on this and firescout, we could have sourced a Global Hawk, Predator, Reaper, etc variant and just had them overhead when we think they would be needed. For the cost and foresight required to move a ship, crew and robot to an area, we could easily move/keep more economical UAV's onstation.

It's a recent development. So much so that, being fairly read in on the Reserve side, I found out about HUQ-1 about two weeks ago and it was a surprise to me.

As for some sort of robot flying machine, the idea isn't completely out of this world. Imagine if, instead of loading it up with a HF and/or rocket, it had a bunch of buoys and a MAD. The Shoes would giggle in glee being able to send it out on a 3 hour MAD hunting circle!* And the pilots wouldn't really complain, unlike now, because they're on the ship either way.

The one thing FS has provided, assuming it's actually been able to get off the ground (or land afterwards) is SOF support in some places that don't have the accessibility needed for a Predator. But the logistics to support it are still a bit "strained."

*Note: Not my idea/point, but brought up by a CDRE, and it's not a bad idea considering the platform and the future threat axis.
 

xmid

Registered User
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Not sure anyone higher up has figured out where selection for those expensive pieces of junk will take place. Last push I heard was post fleet tour LT's even though they would be extremely overqualified for what the job really requires. I know some WWS guys who are gonna get anally raped with a tour at HUQ-1 instead of doing an actual super JO gig. Say bye bye to all that expensive WTI training and probably minimal chances at getting back in a normal cockpit after that tour.

It has been part of the NOM process for production orders for first shore tour guys for a while now.
 

insanebikerboy

Internet killed the television star
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None
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It's a recent development. So much so that, being fairly read in on the Reserve side, I found out about HUQ-1 about two weeks ago and it was a surprise to me.

As for some sort of robot flying machine, the idea isn't completely out of this world. Imagine if, instead of loading it up with a HF and/or rocket, it had a bunch of buoys and a MAD. The Shoes would giggle in glee being able to send it out on a 3 hour MAD hunting circle!* And the pilots wouldn't really complain, unlike now, because they're on the ship either way.

I wish they'd put a dome on it so the shoes could see just how pointless "random dipping" really is....
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
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I wish they'd put a dome on it so the shoes could see just how pointless "random dipping" really is....

I doubt they'd notice, as they always (used to) ask for random MAD Hunting circles and never understood how to actually employ that thing.

By the way, the R has some fairly impressive "random dipping" capability now. Of coures, it's not actually random, it's far more intelligent and requires actual knowledge of both a COI and area rather than just saying "go over there," so I'm sure it would still be lost on the ASWO.
 

Jim123

DD-214 in hand and I'm gonna party like it's 1998
pilot
I wish they'd put a dome on it so the shoes could see just how pointless "random dipping" really is....

I always thought that random MAD hunting circles would be a lot like painting the side of the ship with a sharpie...
 

Uncle Fester

Robot Pimp
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Fire Scout is required, resourced and paid for by the sneaky-guys. Why? Same reason as the rest of sea-based Navy Air - basing it off a boat means it's closer to the target and, more importantly, you don't have to worry about the politics of basing rights. UAVs being a particularly touchy topic with the host countries these days. There's been all kinds of issues with the countries - even NATO countries - that have hosted Preds, for example.

The Navy helo community, as far as I've seen, doesn't particularly want it (but since it's a helo, they don't want anyone else to have it, either). So they're perfectly happy to keep pitching it to Reservistas for the forseeable future. It's interesting contrast with how the VP bubbas have siezed on to the BAMS program, but there it is. Community politics.

It does what it's meant to do - long-duration (for a helo) ISR over less-than-friendly countries - perfectly well. It's doing a mission you can't really do with a -60 and wouldn't particularly want to. What other use it has, I'm not sure.
 
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