From U.S. 4th Fleet Public Affairs, “EASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN (NNS) — During a routine test flight, a MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Take-off and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) supported its first drug interdiction with USS McInerney (FFG 8) and a U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (USCG LEDET) Apr. 3.” Read the rest of the story here.
Looks like UAVs are starting to show what they can do. UAVs flying from the Seychelles, in this case Air Force MQ-9s Reapers, are also having some success looking for pirates.
Hope we start seeing some Coast Guard use of these assets soon.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 
Navy Times’ “Scoop Deck” has video from the Fire Scout of the take-down by McInerney and the LEDET here:
http://militarytimes.com/blogs/scoopdeck/2010/04/09/see-for-yourself-uav-smuggler-take-down/
Navy times Scoop Deck has video from the Fire Scout of the take-down by McInerney and the LEDET here:http://militarytimes.com/blogs/scoopdeck/2010/0…
UPDATE: This bust was initiated during a test of the Fire Scout’s radar. This is equipment not normally on the Navy Fire Scouts. It is being added for Coast Guard use. This is a good initial indication, we were right in insisting on this addition.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/news/2010/intell-100407-nns01.htm
Rereading the release, it is not really clear whether the UAV or McInerney first acquired the “go-fast” on radar, so it may not be that the UAV was radar equipped.
Anybody know if this deployment was evaluating a CG configured UAV?
UPDATE: This bust was initiated during a test of the Fire Scout's radar. This is equipment not normally on the Navy Fire Scouts. It is being added for Coast Guard use. This is a good initial indication, we were right in insisting on this addition. http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/ne…
;Rereading the rela=ease, it is not really clear whether the UAV or McInerney first acquired the “go-fast” on radar. Anybody know if this deployment was evaluating a CG configured UAV?
Navy Times' “Scoop Deck” has video from the Fire Scout of the take-down by McInerney and the LEDET here:http://militarytimes.com/blogs/scoopdeck/2010/0…
UPDATE: This bust was initiated during a test of the Fire Scout's radar. This is equipment not normally on the Navy Fire Scouts. It is being added for Coast Guard use. This is a good initial indication, we were right in insisting on this addition. http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/ne…
Rereading the release, it is not really clear whether the UAV or McInerney first acquired the “go-fast” on radar, so it may not be that the UAV was radar equipped. Anybody know if this deployment was evaluating a CG configured UAV?