Flew Over 4,800 Hours
After supporting the global war on terror for three years,
Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Number 3 (UAV-3) received its
official homecoming Monday at California's Edwards Air Force
Base.
During its overseas deployment, UAV-3 logged more than 4,800
flight hours supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring
Freedom and the Combined Task Force -- Horn of Africa.
On hand at the homecoming event were Maj. Gen. Curtis Bedke,
commander, Air Force Flight Test Center; Randy Brown, director,
Global Hawk Systems Group; Gary Ervin, sector vice president,
Northrop-Grumman Integrated Systems Western region and Maj. Mike
Lyons, Global Hawk pilot and chief of standardization and
evaluation, 12th Reconnaissance Squadron.
The Global Hawk program is managed by Aeronautical Systems
Center’s Global Hawk Systems Group of the Reconnaissance
Systems Wing at Edwards.
Global Hawk UAV-3 was deployed after the attacks of September
11, 2001. The Air Force decision to deploy it while still an
advanced concept technology demonstrator expressed the confidence
the Air Force has in it and future unmanned aircraft systems for
the global war on terrorism, Global Hawk officials said.
Its capabilities were proven in combat environments while still
in the pre-production stage of the acquisition cycle. While
deployed, UAV-3 flew 249 total sorties -- 191 were combat sorties.
It provided tens of thousands of battlefield images to military
decision-makers.
"We’ve seen an incredible transformation with unmanned
vehicles, especially with Global Hawk," Brown said. "We’re
learning a lot about how we can build things better and smarter,
but more importantly, we’ve learned how we can get capability
into the warfighter’s hands much quicker than we would
traditionally."
"This system and this team has been the key to us being able to
rethink how we deliver capabilities to those who really need it to
support the global war on terror, and it is a major milestone in
the program and one that is historical for the future of U.S. Air
Force reconnaissance," Brown added.
According to program officials, the success of this program has
been a team effort, evolving from the drawing board concepts to
actual unmanned flight in combat environments.
"Global Hawk’s
all-weather imaging capability has truly pulled back the veil of
protection once offered by darkness and poor weather and tied that
capability to a platform that can remain on task for nearly a full
day," Major Lyons said.
"This synergy of capabilities is a true revolution in the
reconnaissance arena," he said. "I am proud to have had the
opportunity to work with the many civilian contractors and military
professionals that form the Global Hawk team. Without the daily
efforts of literally dozens of people, this system would not
continue to operate."
"We are very proud of this program. Mostly, though, it’s
not about the airframe; it’s about the people who designed,
built, tested, acquired, (operated) and maintained this airframe
both during test and at war," General Bedke said.
"It doesn’t matter whether they’re contractors, Air
Force civilians or Air Force military. It doesn’t matter if
they’re test pilots, test engineers or other aircrew. They
are all part of what we call the Global Vigilance Combined Test
Force," he said. "We have the good fortune of living and working at
a place that cherishes its history, its heritage and its heroes.
That heritage and history now includes Global Hawk Air UAV-3, and
its heroes include all of the people who assured it could do its
mission and continue to test at the same time."
(Aero-News salutes Laura McGowan, Aeronautical Systems
Center Public Affairs, as well as 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
and Air Force Flight Test Center, both located at Edwards Air Force
Base.)