Northrop Grumman has begun flying its company-owned MQ-8B Fire Scout demonstrator, aircraft P6, which will be used to test new payloads for the vertical takeoff and landing unmanned air system.

P6 made a 20-minute autonomous first flight in late August at Webster Field, part of the U.S. Navy test center at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.

Initially, P6 is flying with a FLIR Systems Star Safire electro-optical sensor and Telephonics RDR-1700B maritime surveillance radar. The Navy's baseline MQ-8B carries a FLIR Brite Star II EO/IR sensor.

Flights with the off-the-shelf RDR-1700B are because of U.S. Coast Guard interest in a radar-equipped Fire Scout, as well as toward less programmatic risk for the Navy, which plans to begin development of a multimode maritime radar for the MQ-8B in fiscal 2009.

This month, P6 will be relocated to Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., for flight tests of Northrop's Airborne Standoff Mine Detection System, a multispectral imaging sensor planned for the U.S. Army's version of the Fire Scout.

Switching out the sensors will demonstrate the Fire Scout's "plug-and-play" modular payload architecture, according to Northrop. P6 will also be able to operate with both the Navy's TCS ground station and the Army's One System, using the tactical control data link.

Northrop plans to use P6 to accelerate integration and evaluation of payloads while performing demonstrations for U.S. and foreign customers. The air vehicle and ground station will be transportable in two trailers. The company is also looking a possible airshow appearances, including Paris in 2009.