Fire Scout preps for final exam

Fire Scout unmanned helicopters will be ready for their first deployment later this year, paving the way to full-rate production, possibly before 2010. A story in the April issue of Seapower said two Fire Scouts will be aboard the guided missile frigate USS McInerney when it deploys with the Fourth Fleet to the Southern Command’s area of operations. Fire Scouts, built in part in Moss Point, Miss., were intended for use on Littoral Combat Ships, but delays in that program prompted the Navy to test the system on a frigate. (Source: Seapower, April 2009) Gulf Coast note: Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., is building one of the LCS prototypes.