Northrop Grumman has decided to build "enhanced" wings for the Global Hawk, designed to increase the UAV's payload and durability, which will be 10 percent larger than the current wings. The goal is to increase the Global Hawk's performance to 18,288 meters with a 1,360-kilogram payload, while maintaining its original range and endurance requirements.
Taking into account the U-2 aircraft in the next 10 years after the performance of the demand, the U.S. Air Force hopes that the "Global Hawk" load capacity and functionality. After the load increase, the aircraft can carry signal reconnaissance sensors and radar for reconnaissance of moving targets on the ground, thus closer to the function of the U-2. The U.S. Department of Defense began planning to add weapons systems to the Global Hawk, marking a shift in the department's drone policy. The U.S. Air Force disagreed with the decision, noting that some countries object to armed drones flying in their airspace, which would reduce the flexibility of their use.
General Franks, the retired commander of U.S. forces in the Iraq war, said the armed Global Hawk is something the U.S. military must pay attention to because the experience of the Iraq war has shown that the high-altitude platforms will have great utility if they can irradiate and attack targets on their own.
Air Force Combatant Command said it has confirmed that in the Iraq war can control the drone in 9660 kilometers away from the location of the mission, image collection, transmission, processing and transmission to the Joint Air Warfare Center, less than 10 minutes to complete. The command also explained to the media the concept of a "kill chain" of compressed targeting by drones, and expects to make further leaps in the overall unmanned aircraft systems and control capabilities.
The Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) said it is optimistic about future unmanned aircraft systems, such as the Joint Unmanned Combatant Aircraft (JUCA), the Unmanned Combat Rotorcraft (UCAR) and the Formed Vehicle (FV), and about building them to have enduring and stable intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance potential and, in some cases, ground and air attack capability. Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems Division completed the first production RQ-4A Global Hawk. The aircraft flew for the first time at the end of the month after completing a final series of systems tests. The Global Hawk is the eighth UAV of its type to be built by NORTHG, the first seven being the program's Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) models. The first production Global Hawk is expected to be delivered to the Air Force's 9th Reconnaissance Wing. During the same period, Northrop Grumman began special flight tests of the Global Hawk, with a demonstration of its electronic intelligence reconnaissance mission capability scheduled for early October in Germany.
In addition, the Global Hawk was awarded the Federal Aviation Administration's Blanket Flight Permit on August 18, which authorizes the Global Hawk to fly at any altitude within U.S. domestic airspace. This paves the way for the Global Hawk to support the homeland defense mission in its own airspace. Under the terms of the license, the Global Hawk must take off and land at a restricted location, such as an airbase, and climb to an altitude above the civil air traffic lanes before entering free airspace. Northrop Grumman has begun development and production of a new, more capable version of the RQ-4B. This development is in response to the U.S. Air Force's recent award of advance procurement activities and long-lead hardware contracts totaling $30 million.
The RQ-4B maintains the Air Force's operational requirements for altitude, endurance and range, but has a 50 percent greater payload capacity than the Global Hawk.
Northrop Grumman will produce three RQ-4B drones at its Palmdale manufacturing facility as part of the third Global Hawk low-rate initial production run. The UAVs will be delivered between 2004 and 2005. In addition to carrying increased SIGINT and ELINT (Electronic Intelligence) payloads, the RQ-4B will be able to carry payloads from the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) currently being developed by the Integrated Systems Division. radar is also the radar for the E-10A AWACS.
The RQ-4B has a larger wingspan (130.9 feet (40 meters) compared to 116 feet (30.5 meters)) and longer fuselage (47.6 feet (14.5 meters)) than the current Global Hawk. (14.5 m) compared to 116 ft.) The electrical output of the new Global Hawk has been increased by 150 percent through the use of a new generator and minor modifications to the Rollo AE-3007 engine. This new Lot 3 low-rate initial production contract also includes a long lead-time investment in an RQ-4A production UAV, as well as currently utilized integrated sensor assemblies (electro-optical/infrared and synthetic aperture radar), a launch and recovery element, and a mission control element. The first RQ-4A Global Hawk UAV for the U.S. Navy's Global Hawk Maritime Demonstration (GHMD) program flew from Palmdale, California, to Edwards Air Force Base on Oct. 6, completing its first flight.
The flight lasted about four hours, during which the airframe, guidance system and power system were tested. The aircraft is one of two unmanned aircraft the U.S. Navy is procuring for the GHMD program, which aims to develop maritime unmanned aircraft tactics as well as operational procedures.The unmanned aircraft systems in the GHMD program will provide the U.S. Navy with test beds for evaluating new programs, supporting fleet tests and exercises; and providing operational support to deployed Navy and Marine Corps units.
Lessons learned from the GHMD program will be used for future Navy unmanned aircraft systems. Cmdr. Dennis, manager of the Navy's unmanned aircraft program, believes the flight heralds significant progress in the Navy's unmanned aircraft program and the development of the Navy's air power. For the first time, the Navy has an unmanned aircraft system that can proximately support naval fleet operations around the globe.
The lessons learned from the GHMD program will serve as a benchmark for future Navy intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions at sea. The Navy version of the Global Hawk has been modified for naval missions, including the use of new radar modes of operation for detecting and identifying ships at sea. The ground control station has also been improved with the addition of display and control equipment to help controllers analyze sensor information. The cost of the Global Hawk drone has tripled as a result of the Pentagon's request to enhance the performance of the long-endurance drone. According to the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), the increased development costs mean fewer of them are being built than originally planned. Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for the Global Hawk UAV program. Since 2002, the Global Hawk UAV program has been reordered twice, compressing the program's investment from 20 years to 10. In FY2006, the USAF plans to seek $750 million for the program, triple the amount originally planned. in 2001, the Pentagon planned to spend $5.3 billion to produce 63 aircraft and 14 ground stations. ground stations.
The Pentagon's request for increased drone performance prompted a 44 percent increase in the cost of its program over the original plan, GAO reported. The GAO recommended that the Pentagon reconsider concurrent development and production of the new RQ-4B drone, which has not yet been designed and whose advanced sensor payload technology is not yet mature, and delay its procurement.
Northrop Grumman said in response that it has to pay a big price to get a product that performs well, and that the high cost of the parts it uses is one of the reasons. In addition, the company's representatives said, some Defense Department officials overlooked the fact that the Global Hawk offers significant whole-life operational cost savings compared to similarly sized manned aircraft, and costs far less to operate than manned aircraft. And because Global Hawk materials are so expensive, companies can't get a discount on the price of aluminum or carbon fiber parts.
The representative said the unmanned aircraft platforms require very few operators, which is the most expensive expense in the Department of Defense's budget, accounting for almost two-thirds of the total cost, including salaries, housing, health care, dependents, veteran's arrangements, and so on. Further, the value of the long-range Global Hawk lies in its ability to hover over enemy forces for longer periods of time, a capability that could solve the problem of the U.S. being denied access to, or use of, nearby land (which is the only place where manned aircraft can conduct missions), such as was encountered in the war in Afghanistan. The Global Hawk is the first aircraft to be used by the U.S. in Afghanistan. Since the Global Hawk can carry a payload of 1,816 kg (4,000 lbs), it can be equipped with more sensors to keep it up to date. A final advantage is that the drone can be controlled using a laptop computer. Ideally, each ground station would be able to control four Global Hawk flights. The open architecture also means that the UAV's software can be easily upgraded, setting the stage for future battlefield utility. Northrop Grumman, Tenix Defense and Saab Systems have announced that they will team up to develop an Australian ground system that will be integrated with Nova-Georg's Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance UAV.
In the same month, Vought Aircraft Industries announced that it had delivered the first set of enhanced wings for the U.S. Air Force's RQ-4B to Northrop Grumman. Vought used commercially available composite and epoxy materials in the manufacture of the RQ-4B aircraft wings. At 130.9 feet (39.9 meters) long and weighing approximately 4,000 pounds (1,814 kilograms), the new wing is the longest wing delivered from Vought's Dallas facility. "The conclusion of the Global Hawk's flight tests brings the newest version of the Global Hawk one step closer to fielding. The flight test was conducted by the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and was designed to support decisions about the readiness of the upcoming 10th production Global Hawk and sensor suite for deployment.
The Global Hawk provides near real-time, high-resolution intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance imagery to Air Force and Joint Battlefield Commanders.
The plan is to replace the Global Hawk Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) aircraft currently deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom with new Global Hawk aircraft, a test squadron official said. Each ACTD is different, he said, whereas the production Global Hawk is standardized and can be used and maintained by the Air Force itself. Currently, it's mostly contractors who maintain the drones.
The flight test fulfilled a series of developmental and operational test requirements, completing a comprehensive system evaluation flight that demonstrated the performance of the Global Hawk system. Capabilities evaluated included flight operations, electro-optical systems, infrared and synthetic aperture radar functionality, and the amount, timeliness and availability of sensor imagery. The U.S. Air Force plans to deploy the Global Hawk, a high-altitude, long-endurance drone, throughout the Pacific, according to Hurst, commander of U.S. Air Forces Pacific, who is stationed at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. The U.S. military plans to deploy it first in the Guam area, and seek to deploy it in other allies such as Australia, Japan and South Korea. The U.S. Air Force Pacific is eager to discuss the possibility of deploying the drone's launch and recovery equipment to northern Australia, Singapore and India.
The Global Hawk drone, developed by Northrop Grumman, can fly at 60,000 feet for 24 hours and can help the air force conduct reconnaissance missions throughout the Pacific. The drone takes off from Guam and is controlled from Hickam Air Force Base. The drone can fly to the Sea of Japan or the East China Sea and conduct a 16-hour mission there or a 12-hour mission to the Strait of Malacca before returning to base.
The first few Global Hawk prototypes have already flown reconnaissance missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. NOAA is ramping up production of the drone, but faces challenges of increased costs and plug-and-play conditions that allow the Air Force to swap out different payloads to meet needs.
The Air Force is also deploying smaller Predator drones in South Korea. Developed by San Diego-based General Atomics, the Predator UAVs are divided into models A and B. The B model has longer wings and can carry missile armament in addition to surveillance and reconnaissance equipment. The Predator B UAV can perform a full spectrum of operational missions from reconnaissance to combat. The U.S. Navy's Global Hawk Maritime Demonstration (GHMD) high-altitude, long-endurance UAS is a modification of the RQ-4A Global Hawk system used by the U.S. Air Force, based on the latter's use of radar modes suitable for maritime searching, specialized on-board and ground-station software, and a unique passive RF Sensors. The U.S. Navy*** procured two GHMD UAVs and corresponding ground stations to be used by the 20th Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX-20) based at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.
The Global Hawk also participated in a U.S. Navy military exercise for the first time. The exercise was codenamed Trident Warrior 05. In the exercise, "Global Hawk" has been in the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command is located in the U.S. west coast of the sea range over the flight to the U.S. East Coast to participate in the commanders of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, as well as the Sulphur Island, amphibious assault ship and the Mount Whitney amphibious command ship real-time transmission of reconnaissance information.
The Global Hawk UAV flew four missions during the exercise, totaling 31.8 hours of flight time. During these mission flights, the aircraft used radar and electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensors to detect maritime targets and classify them with high-resolution inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) patterns and EO/IR imagery. All mission flights originate from Edwards Air Force Base, California, and reconnaissance imagery is first transmitted in real time via a high-speed satellite data link to the GHMD ground station at Northrop Grumman's Systems Integration Laboratory in California, which then relays it to the Tactical Auxiliary Global Hawk System (TAGS) at the U.S. Naval Air Station at Patuxent River, Maryland, the Naval Intelligence Department, and the ships participating in the exercise. The U.S. Air Force has proposed a new method to control the temperature of Global Hawk UAVs. The effectiveness of the aircraft has been reduced due to the extreme heat in Southwest Asia.
Aircraft such as the Global Hawk and U-2 fly in scorching environments where temperatures are too high for their sensors to function. Lacking a robust environmental control device that could keep electronic systems cool in the heat, the Air Force had to use hose-downs to cool the planes. The aircraft are parked in air-conditioned hangars during the day and put into flight at night when the outside temperature drops so that the sensors can work relatively effectively.
David Bates of the 380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron (EAMS) said the Global Hawk's main computer, which has a maximum operating temperature of 40.5 degrees Celsius, was unable to function properly because of high outside temperatures, which was the main reason why one of the planes was forced to return to base after a recent in-flight deviation. After the plane spent several hours in the midday heat, aircrews became concerned about the temperature of the plane's components. After hosing down the plane, it was able to taxi down the runway and begin takeoff.