The US Navy has equipped its MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a classified intelligence payload, known as Twister.

Flight Global has reported the details regarding the new payload’s mission capabilities have not been disclosed.

The navy has been quoted as saying: "Twister improves Fire Scout’s efficiency by accelerating critical kill-chain elements of find, fix, track and assess."

The Twister payload has been developed by Northrop Grumman under a $1m contract awarded earlier in November.