Production Shifting From Edwards AFB to Palmdale,
California
The first Block 40 configuration of the RQ-4 Global Hawk
high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft system (UAS)
successfully completed its first flight on Nov. 16. Designated
AF-18, the advanced capability aircraft flew for approximately two
hours from Northrop Grumman Corporation's manufacturing
facility in Palmdale, CA, to Edwards Air Force Base.
"AF-18, the eleventh of the next-generation Global Hawk Block
20/30/40s to arrive at Edwards Air Force Base, performed
beautifully," said George Guerra, Northrop Grumman vice president
of HALE systems. "This flight marks the continuation of our Global
Hawk flight test program, and is a testament to the team comprised
of people from Northrop Grumman and the Air Force who have worked
so hard to make this happen."
This first flight also marks the end of an era, as Global Hawk
production acceptance activities will transition in the near future
from Edwards Air Force Base to Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale,
improving efficiency and flow of company products. In addition to
AF-18, a Block 30 aircraft, AF-19, was recently delivered to the
Air Force and is one of 11 major deliveries by the program within
the last three months.
Steve Amburgey, Global Hawk program director for the 303d
Aeronautical Systems Group at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,
Ohio, noted that the flight of this aircraft is a significant
milestone for the Global Hawk program. "AF-18 is the first of 15
Block 40 Global Hawk aircraft scheduled for fielding to Grand Forks
Air Force Base, North Dakota, in 2010," said Amburgey. "The
aircraft will carry an advanced, all-weather multi-platform radar
technology insertion program (MP-RTIP) sensor, providing
game-changing situational awareness for our warfighters with its
unprecedented capability to detect, track and identify stationary
and moving targets."
Global Hawk's range, endurance and large payload capabilities
are well suited to provide persistent surveillance of the enemy
with MP-RTIP. Flying at altitudes up to 60,000 feet for more than
32 hours per sortie at speeds approaching 340 knots, the
MP-RTIP-equipped Block 40 Global Hawk can persistently see through
most type of weather, day or night. As the world's first fully
autonomous HALE UAS, Global Hawk can accomodate a wide variety of
sensors, foreign and domestic, meeting the global need for
persistent ISR.