Euro Hawk UAS To Be The Centerpiece Of The Company's
Exhibition
Northrop Grumman plans to highlight its key intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities with the Euro
Hawk and NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) platforms, which
are international derivatives of the RQ-4 High-Altitude
Long-Endurance (HALE) Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS),
at the ILA Berlin Air Show. The show takes place June 8-13 at the
southern section of Berlin-Schonefeld Airport.
Euro Hawk File Photo
"Northrop Grumman (has delivered) more that 100,000 unmanned
systems to military customers in the U.S. and abroad for more than
60 years," said John Brooks, president of Northrop Grumman
International Inc. "That unmatched experience gives us the strong
foundation to produce extraordinarily capable and reliable unmanned
surveillance systems."
"The Luftwaffe's Euro Hawk marks several important milestones,"
he continued. "It is both the first international version of the
RQ-4 and the first HALE UAS in Europe. NATO's AGS will follow close
behind and mark the second international RQ-4 and the second HALE
UAS in Europe. We look forward to building on the transatlantic
industrial cooperation and the strong partnerships we have
developed through both the Euro Hawk and NATO AGS programmes.
Europe is a key market for Northrop Grumman and we have much to
offer."
Euro Hawk File Photo
The EuroHawk GmbH joint venture between Northrop Grumman and
EADS Defence and Security is developing the unmanned signals
intelligence (SIGINT) surveillance and reconnaissance system. Based
on the Block 20 Global Hawk configuration with a wing span larger
than a commercial airliner, Euro Hawk UAS will be integrated with a
new SIGINT mission system developed by EADS and will serve as the
German Air Force's HALE SIGINT system, providing standoff
capability to detect electronic intelligence, or ELINT, and
communications intelligence, or COMINT, emitters. The first Euro
Hawk was introduced in an unveiling ceremony in October 2009 at
Northrop Grumman's Palmdale, CA, facility.
Northrop Grumman is also prime contractor for the NATO AGS
system at the company's Melbourne, FL, facility. NATO AGS will
employ the Block 40 version of the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft,
making NATO the first international sale of this version of the
aircraft system.
Block 40 Global Hawk
Northrop Grumman's German and Italian subsidiaries will also be
represented at the air show. Northrop Grumman LITEF will display
sensors for weapon stabilisation, inertial guidance systems for
missiles and Attitude Heading Reference System (AHRS)/ navigation
systems for fixed and rotary wing aircraft based on fibre optic and
MEMS technology. Northrop Grumman Italia will display a full range
of its state-of-the-art fibre-optic navigation systems including
the LISA-200, the Navex family of attitude heading reference
systems and LN 251 / LN 270 high accuracy inertial navigation
systems. Systems from Northrop Grumman LITEF and Northrop Grumman
Italia are in service on aircraft platforms in the U.S., Europe and
Asia and are fitted to the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Tornado and BAE
Systems Hawk as well as the Meteor, Taurus and IRIS-T missiles.