Printed from https://fiscalreceipts.com/program/0305231N/ — data as of July 28, 2026. Every figure is citation-backed; see the page online for per-number provenance.
MQ-8 UAV
Budget Figures
FY2026 award data is a partial year — USASpending awards are reported on a rolling basis and the fiscal year does not close until September 30. why partial FY2026 data? →
Insufficient trajectory data for sparkline (only FY24 available).
● 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 reports $27.0M actually spent — $27.0M above the request.
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 — Congressional Adds
Passive ELINT Targeting Capability - Due to the divestment of MQ-8C, FY24 Congressional Add funds have been rescinded by Congress in FY25.
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.
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)
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)
| Project | All Prior Years | FY24 Actuals | FY25 Total | FY26 Base | FY26 Request |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9999: Congressional Adds | $34.0M | $10.0M | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| 2768: MQ-8 Fire Scout | $650.1M | $5.12M | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Program Element | $684.1M | $15.1M | $0 | $0 | $0 |
No follow-the-dollar view — this program's awards haven't been crosswalked at high confidence (flows cover 17 of 1741 programs). why coverage is partial? →
Awards
No awards are linked to this program element at high confidence — the budget→award crosswalk only asserts links it can defend, and this line has none yet.
Lobbying Mentions
No Senate LDA lobbying filing in the tracked data mentions this program element by code or alias.
No research dossier for this program — dossiers cover 50 of 1741 programs, the largest fully J-book-detailed lines by FY2026 requested dollars. why no dossier here? →