Printed from https://fiscalreceipts.com/program/0305231N/ — built September 26, 2026. Every figure is citation-backed; see the page online for per-number provenance.
MQ-8 UAV
Watch this program
Budget figures
No FY2026 R-1/P-1 request line for this program element. The FY2026 President's Budget request workbook carries no FY2026 line for it; its last workbook figure is FY2024. The PB2026 J-book detail below does carry an FY2026 row for this line, recorded as zero. A workbook blank and a documented zero are different records, and this page shows both. An absent line is not by itself an ending — PB2026 renumbered program elements at scale across the services and defense agencies, so this work may continue under a different number. No successor is linked for this line: this site's program-lineage layer holds no keyed edge pointing forward from here. That is an absence in this site's lineage layer, not a finding about the program: if the J-book narrative on this page describes a realignment, it is quoted below in the document's own words, and this note does not restate it.
FY2026 award data is a partial year — USAspending reports awards on a rolling basis, and this corpus runs through 2026-09-04. why partial FY2026 data? →
Budget trajectory
| Fiscal year | Amount |
|---|---|
| FY24 | $15.1MR-1 TOA · PB2026 |
| FY25 | $0J-book detail · PB2026 |
| FY26 | $0J-book detail · PB2026 |
Decade view
P-1/R-1 workbook TOA basis, shown compact in $B/$M (the workbook records USD thousands); each figure cites its own President's Budget edition
The vertical scale does not start at zero: the baseline sits just below this program’s smallest year, so a low point on this line is not a small amount. Read the shape for direction and the grid below for the figures.
● actuals (line) · ○ enacted · ◇ request — gaps are editions the program is absent from, never interpolated.
| Series | FY15 | FY16 | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | FY20 | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actuals | $43.3M | $52.8M | $26.5M | $62.7M | $23.1M | $29.6M | $29.0M | $33.5M | $27.0M | $15.1M |
| Enacted | $52.8M | $26.5M | $62.7M | $24.1M | $29.6M | $29.0M | $33.5M | $27.0M | $29.7M | |
| Request | $26.5M | $62.7M | $9.84M | $29.6M | $29.0M | $26.5M | $0 | $29.7M |
blank = series not published for this year; – = absent from that edition.
Asked vs spent: the PB2023 book requested $0 for FY2023; the PB2025 book reported $27.0M as actual total obligation authority — $27.0M above the request. 27.0 − 0.0 = 27.0 USD millions — the compact figures above are rounded for reading.
Program lineage
No predecessor/successor lineage was recorded for this program element — no FY-to-FY transfer into or out of this line was stated in the ingested J-books, and none was inferred from the program structure.
Description
Mission — MQ-8 UAV
The MQ-8 Unmanned Air System is a Joint Military Intelligence Program. There is no funding requested in FY 2026 based on a Navy decision to divest current inventory of MQ-8C Air Vehicles (AVs) and associated equipment. The Navy will divest the MQ-8C Fire Scout Uncrewed Aircraft System at the conclusion of FY 2024. Through coordination with Commander Naval Air Forces, Commander Naval Surface Forces, Naval Air Systems Command and Naval Sea Systems Command, operational employment of the MQ-8C will end in Q4 FY2024 and sundown will be completed by Q4 FY2026. The MQ-8 Unmanned Air System (Fire Scout) program achieved MS C in June 2017. MQ-8C Unmanned Air System declared Initial Operational Capability in June 2019 for the Endurance Baseline and in June 2022 for the Surface Warfare (SUW) Increment. The program includes MQ-8B air vehicles (AV), MQ-8C air vehicles (AV), and associated Mission Control Systems (MCS), Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Common Automatic Recovery Systems (UCARS) and support equipment. The MQ-8B variant of Fire Scout completed Sundown on 30 Sep 2022. Currently, the MQ-8C is the only remaining airframe for the program of record that maintain a limited segment of air vehicles to support the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) SUW missions and future Mine Counter Measures (MCM) missions. The MQ-8C Fire Scout is a vertical take-off and landing, expeditionary, unmanned aircraft system (UAS) capable of day/night ship and shore-based operations. Fire Scout provides an airborne, unmanned, sea-based, persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting (ISR-T) asset to the host LCS platform or suitably equipped air capable ships (SEACS) without the reliance on limited joint theater or national assets. The MQ-8C Fire Scout system of systems includes the MCS, UCARS (required for shipboard only), and Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL) for MQ-8C command & control and payload data transmission. The MQ-8 launches and recovers vertically and can operate from suitably equipped air capable ships (SEACS), as well as confined area land bases. Interoperability is achieved via the Tactical Control System (TCS) software in the MCS, also referred to as a Ground Control Station (GCS), and the TCDL. The data from the MQ-8 is provided through standard DoD Command, Control, Communications, Computers and ISR-T (C4ISR-T) system architectures and protocols. A deployed MQ-8 system includes AVs, payloads (i.e. electro-optical/infrared/laser designator-range finder, Automated Identification System, voice communications relay, Radar, and other specialty payloads), Mission Control Systems (with TCS and TCDL integrated for interoperability), a UCARS for automatic launch and recovery, and associated spares and support equipment. The schedules for MCS and UCARS components are based on host ship requirements, while schedules for AV components, support equipment, and training equipment are based on operational deployment plans. A limited number of land-based mission control systems support shore-based operations including training, pre-deployment or acceptance functional check flights, and depot-level maintenance/post-maintenance activities. MQ-8 systems support missions on LCS, Expeditionary Mobile Base (T-ESB), FFG(X), and/or SEACS. Quantities of air vehicles are derived from LCS deployment requirements for SUW and MCM mission sets.
Mission — MQ-8 Fire Scout
There is no funding requested in FY2026 based on a Navy decision to divest of current inventory of MQ-8C Air Vehicles (AVs) and associated equipment. The Navy will divest the MQ-8C Fire Scout Uncrewed Aircraft System at the conclusion of FY 2024. Through coordination with Commander Naval Air Forces, Commander Naval Surface Forces, Naval Air Systems Command and Naval Sea Systems Command, operational employment of the MQ-8C will end in Q4 FY2024 and sundown will be completed by Q4 FY2026. Funding is provided for development efforts in response to emerging fleet requirements through integration and improvements to Common Operational Picture (COP) capabilities, avionics, payloads, range, endurance, and targeting. The MQ-8 Radar capability was the initial effort as part of the Surface Warfare (SUW) Increment of the MQ-8C. A non-developmental maritime Radar was competitively selected and integrated into the MQ-8C Fire Scout System. The Radar provides the MQ-8 operators and the supported LCS, T-ESB and FFG(X) crew enhanced situational awareness of the Recognized Maritime Picture (RMP) by providing multiple operational modes to include surface search, track, Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) maritime target classification, and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) target classification capabilities. The maritime Radar is fully integrated with the Mission Control Systems (MCS) and ship's combat systems providing data in standardized format for ease of dissemination to other users. Integration of the Radar capability also includes integration of the Minotaur mission management software on both the AV and MCS. Minotaur software was integrated as part of the SUW Increment and provides the operator interface and command and control for the Radar, Electro-optical Infrared (EO/IR), and automatic information system (AIS) payloads and future mission payloads; map management; and sensor track correlation. The MQ-8C data link network capability will disseminate sensor track data to other data link network participants contributing to the COP. Line-of-Sight (LOS) capability will connect Fleet users and disadvantaged users increasing situational awareness. Additionally, the data link network will be capable of passing weapons quality tracks and updates for Network Enabled Weapon Targeting (NEW-T) for Over-the-Horizon Targeting (OTH-T). The optical sensor system will provide the MQ-8C the ability to land on ships during emissions control (EMCON) operations without requiring the use of UCARS, expanding the number of ships upon which the MQ-8C could land and mitigating reliability risks and operational risks with the UCARS system. The optical sensor system may also be utilized as part of a future due regard capability to detect potential air-to-air collision threats in time to react to them.
Mission — Congressional Adds
Passive ELINT Targeting Capability - Due to the divestment of MQ-8C, FY24 Congressional Add funds have been rescinded by Congress in FY25.
Justification
No accomplishments or planned-program narratives in this line's J-book detail — some exhibits carry figures without per-project prose.
Budget line items(workbook-cited)
P-1/R-1 workbook Total Obligation Authority basis (USD thousands) · PB2026.
Exhibit R-1
| Account | Org | Type | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Navy | N | FY24 Actuals | $15.1M |
Budget Details(R-2/P-40 facts)
J-book detail basis (R-2/P-40, USD millions) · PB2026 — a different accounting basis from the P-1/R-1 workbook TOA above; where the two disagree, the reconciliation strip under Budget figures shows both.
Wider than this screen — swipe the table sideways for the remaining fiscal-year columns.
| Project | All Prior Years | FY24 Actuals | FY25 Total | FY26 Base | FY26 Request |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Program Element | $684.1M | $15.1M | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| 2768: MQ-8 Fire Scout | $650.1M | $5.12M | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| 9999: Congressional Adds | $34.0M | $10.0M | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Follow the dollar
Appropriation → program element → top high-confidence awards → recipient families → congressional districts.
Follow-the-dollar covers 312 of 1,938 programs — only high-confidence budget→award links are shown. why coverage is partial? →
The diagram illustrates the cited table below — amounts shown in the diagram are transaction sums per award (no citation chips); the per-district obligations in the table cite USAspending queries.
| District | Program obligations |
|---|---|
| NJ-07 | $9.20M |
Related awards
Award linkage is shown for 32 of 200 profiled companies — high- and medium-confidence USAspending matches, each row labeled; medium is the weaker evidence. why partial award coverage? →
Rows marked medium rest on evidence weaker than a program-level match, and of more than one kind. An account-based row, where the award drew from the same appropriation account as this program, is an association, not evidence that this program paid for the contract. Where the evidence is instead an FPDS acquisition-program tag or a subaward description, the program is established but which of its budget lines paid is not. An announcement link a recorded review did not leave standing is medium too. Only high rows rest on the contract naming this program with a recorded review upholding it and no recorded rejection or refutation applying.
| Recipient | PIID | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| PERATON LABS INC | N0001923C0048 | high |
| BELL TEXTRON INC | N0001919F2771 | medium |
| BELL TEXTRON INC | N0001920F0651 | medium |
| LEONARDO UK LTD | N0001920F0299 | medium |
| NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION | N0001917C0033 | medium |
| NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION | N0001917C0036 | medium |
| NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION | N0001918F1684 | medium |
| NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION | N0001920C0025 | medium |
| NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION | N0001920F0628 | medium |
| NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION | N0001921F0117 | medium |
Contractor concentration
No concentration index is published for this line. This line's high-confidence links do not clear the floor for a published concentration index — at least 3 awards across 2 contractor families holding positive obligations, with positive net linked dollars. An index below that floor is a fact about the sample, not about the market. Whatever further links this line carries are medium-confidence, and what each medium evidence path does and does not establish is set out in the methodology. Both bases are in the downloadable warehouse.
Lobbying mentions
No Senate LDA lobbying filing in the tracked data mentions this program element by code or alias.
Oversight
Department-level designation (not specific to this program)
GAO lists 5 high-risk areas for DOD as a whole. That designation covers the department, not MQ-8 UAV. No program-specific GAO finding for this line is in the ingested data. See the DOD oversight record.
Program dossier
No research dossier for this program — dossiers cover 50 of 1,938 programs, the largest fully J-book-detailed lines by FY2026 requested dollars. why no dossier here? →
Primary sources
Open any budget figure for its exact receipt. Verified line items lead with the highlighted government PDF; original spreadsheets download with their budget edition and exhibit in the filename.
Budget totals · TOA sources
FY2026 Department of Defense Budget: RDT&E Programs (R-1) · comptroller.war.gov
Exhibit R-1 · J486
Complete workbook · unchanged saved copy. Saves as PB2026_DoD_R-1_Research-Development-Test-Evaluation.xlsx.
FY2017 Department of Defense Budget: RDT&E Programs (R-1) · comptroller.war.gov
Exhibit R-1 · J439
Complete workbook · unchanged saved copy. Saves as PB2017_DoD_R-1_Research-Development-Test-Evaluation.xlsx.
FY2018 Department of Defense Budget: RDT&E Programs (R-1) · comptroller.war.gov
Exhibit R-1 · J471
Complete workbook · unchanged saved copy. Saves as PB2018_DoD_R-1_Research-Development-Test-Evaluation.xlsx.
FY2019 Department of Defense Budget: RDT&E Programs (R-1) · comptroller.war.gov
Exhibit R-1 · J489
Complete workbook · unchanged saved copy. Saves as PB2019_DoD_R-1_Research-Development-Test-Evaluation.xlsx.
FY2020 Department of Defense Budget: RDT&E Programs (R-1) · comptroller.war.gov
Exhibit R-1 · J499
Complete workbook · unchanged saved copy. Saves as PB2020_DoD_R-1_Research-Development-Test-Evaluation.xlsx.
FY2021 Department of Defense Budget: RDT&E Programs (R-1) · comptroller.war.gov
Exhibit R-1 · J508
Complete workbook · unchanged saved copy. Saves as PB2021_DoD_R-1_Research-Development-Test-Evaluation.xlsx.
FY2022 Department of Defense Budget: RDT&E Programs (R-1) · comptroller.war.gov
Exhibit R-1 · J474
Complete workbook · unchanged saved copy. Saves as PB2022_DoD_R-1_Research-Development-Test-Evaluation.xlsx.
FY2023 Department of Defense Budget: RDT&E Programs (R-1) · comptroller.war.gov
Exhibit R-1 · J467
Complete workbook · unchanged saved copy. Saves as PB2023_DoD_R-1_Research-Development-Test-Evaluation.xlsx.
FY2024 Department of Defense Budget: RDT&E Programs (R-1) · comptroller.war.gov
Exhibit R-1 · J460
Complete workbook · unchanged saved copy. Saves as PB2024_DoD_R-1_Research-Development-Test-Evaluation.xlsx.
FY2025 Department of Defense Budget: RDT&E Programs (R-1) · comptroller.war.gov
Exhibit R-1 · J468
Complete workbook · unchanged saved copy. Saves as PB2025_DoD_R-1_Research-Development-Test-Evaluation.xlsx.
Detailed budget justification
The related TOA spreadsheets above use a different accounting basis from R-2/P-40 detail. Their amounts are not assumed to match these detailed sources.
RDTEN BA1-3 Book · www.secnav.navy.mil