05/11/12 — Northrop Grumman has been selected by the US Navy to produce a new variant of the firm’s Fire Scout unmanned helicopter using a Bell 407 airframe. The US Department of Defense released information regarding contract awards, and according to the news, Northrop Grumman will produce a total of eight Fire Scout aircraft while not exceeding a budget of $262 million. According to press reports, the upgraded Fire Scout will provide greater range, endurance and payload capacity as compared to its predecessor. The Fire Scout endurance upgrade has been designated as the MQ-8C. Duke Dufresne, vice president and general manager for…

02/26/10 — Designed for the irregular warfare environment, Northrop Grumman’s “Bat” UAS offers real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, communications relay, and future capabilities in a modular system that is fully autonomous. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) today that it has flown the first in a new series of Bat unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in January, 2010. Configured with a 12-foot wingspan, the Bat-12 incorporates a highly-reliable Hirth engine as well as a low acoustic signature five-blade propeller. The new configuration increases the mission portfolio of Northrop Grumman’s scalable Bat UAS product line. Northrop Grumman has been engaged in the development of unmanned systems…