The Navy wants to turn the MQ-8 Fire Scout robot helicopter into a sub-hunter. A Navy research proposal calls for an acoustic detector and a magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) that can be fitted on a Fire Scout or similar vertical-takeoff UAV (VTUAV).
The goal is to supplement anti-submarine operations by manned MH-60R helicopters. The Navy is looking for a pod that can be quickly mounted on a Fire Scout. This would relieve the burden on P-3 and P-8 patrol aircraft and MH-60 helicopters, whose operations are labor intensive, consume large amounts of fuel, and are costly.
The concept of operations is that the VTUAV would perform acoustic sensing ahead of the host ship. Littoral Combat Ships have particular platforms of interest, though the VTUAV capability would not be restricted to a LCS, according to the Navy.
However, the Navy warns of several challenges, including a system small and affordable enough to mount on a Fire Scout, launch and retrieval of acoustic devices like sonobuoys, the difficulties of size, weight and power (SWaP) for a sub-hunting UAV, the need to screen the effects of the Fire Scout's noise on its sensors, and how to fuse acoustic and magnetic field data and then transmit it to the launch ship.
