Mon, May 05, 2014
Air Force Global Hawk Becomes A Land And Sea Threat For The Air Force
The Air Force successfully completed the first Maritime Modes program risk reduction flight as the service moves toward providing a new air-sea battle surveillance capability.
The test flight, which took place in the airspace above the Navy's Point Mugu sea range in California, consisted of an 11 and a half hour sortie on a test Global Hawk Block 40 remotely piloted aircraft.
Maritime Modes is comprised of two components: a Maritime Moving Target Indicator and a Maritime Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar, or MISAR, that function together to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information on vessels traveling on the water's surface.
During the flight, the MISAR collected data on assets and moving targets on the water, ultimately testing more than 100 items of interest. Flight test data is being analyzed in order to determine initial performance, stability and necessary fixes before entering the development test and evaluation phase.
Currently, RQ-4B Global Hawks are the only aircraft equipped with the MP-RTIP radar system.
"This capability will augment the MP-RTIP's existing ground surveillance and provide the warfighter with a complete ground, coastal and open seas picture," said Frank Hertler, the Maritime Modes program manager. "The system will be able to detect, track, classify and build a profile from where the vessel came from as well as have the ability to see much smaller marine vehicles."
(Image provided by U.S Air Force)
More News
Aero Linx: JAARS Nearly 1.5 billion people, using more than 5,500 languages, do not have a full Bible in their first language. Many of these people live in the most remote parts of>[...]
'Airplane Bounced Twice On The Grass Runway, Resulting In The Nose Wheel Separating From The Airplane...' Analysis: The pilot reported, “upon touchdown, the plane jumped back>[...]
"Burt is best known to the public for his historic designs of SpaceShipOne, Voyager, and GlobalFlyer, but for EAA members and aviation aficionados, his unique concepts began more t>[...]
"Polaris Dawn, the first of the program’s three human spaceflight missions, is targeted to launch to orbit no earlier than summer 2024. During the five-day mission, the crew >[...]
There Are SO Many Ways To Get YOUR Aero-News! It’s been a while since we have reminded everyone about all the ways we offer your daily dose of aviation news on-the-go...so he>[...]