LCS delays could send UAVs to other ships

[unhappycamper]

LCS delays could send UAVs to other ships
By John T. Bennett - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Feb 12, 2008 21:29:41 EST

If the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships are delayed, the service may debut the Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned rotorcraft “on another air-capable ship,” said William Balderson, the service’s program executive officer for air programs.

That “would allow us to not delay the Fire Scout even if LCS slips” and would also allow the service to begin integrating the vertical-takeoff UAV onto a working ship, driving down “integration risk” when it moves to the littoral ships, he said.

That plan, however, is still “pre-decisional,” as PEO aviation officials and Fleet Forces Command mull other ways they might deal with LCS delays, Balderson said Tuesday at an Aviation Week-sponsored conference in Washington.

The Navy recently canceled the third and fourth ships of the program – one each of separate designs being built by prime contractors Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. And the 2009 defense spending plan sent to Capitol Hill last week showed major changes, including buying four fewer ships than the six initially planned in 2009, alterations spurred by soaring costs.

But other senior Navy officials at the conference made clear the sea service remains dedicated to the planned buy of 55 ships.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/02/defense_navyuav_080212/



uhc comment: Previous thread on the $15,100,000 MQ-8B --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=9499

BTW, the two remaining LCS ships are 300% over budget.