EuroHawk, the German variant of the Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk UAV, has completed an 25 hour nonstop flight in Germany. Bui...
With a wingspan greater than most commercial airliners, EURO HAWK® can fly at altitudes more than 60,000 feet for more than 30 hours. It can detect radar and communication emitters with its advanced signals intelligence sensors and updated payload software.
"This is the longest flight flown in European skies by an unrefuelled UAS in the more than30,000-pound [14,600-kilogramme] class," said Rolf Wirtz, head of Mission Systems, Cassidian's UAS branch. "The EURO HAWK® has performed safely and reliably with goodresults throughout its entire flight test programme. It is the only system that can meet Germany's requirement for high-altitude signals intelligence surveillance missions."
On June 6, the EURO HAWK® flew over the North Sea for the first time, soaring throughout Germany before returning 6.5 hours later to Manching Air Base.
"To date, the EURO HAWK® has completed 19 flights and approximately 200 flight hours," said Janis Pamiljans, sector vice president and general manager of Unmanned Systems for Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems sector. "I commend the entire EURO HAWK® customer and industry team on achieving this record-breaking flight. We remain committed to delivering the best technology solution at the most affordable cost to meet Germany's national security interests."
The EURO HAWK®, developed and built for the German Ministry of Defence, is the first international derivative of the combat-proven, high-flying RQ-4 Global Hawk HALE UAS. It is also Northrop Grumman's first trans-Atlantic cooperation with Germany and EADS Deutschland GmbH, operating through Cassidian, the defence and security division of EADS.
Based on the Block 20 configuration, EURO HAWK® will be equipped with a new signals intelligence (SIGINT) mission system developed by Cassidian, providing standoff capability to detect electronic intelligence (ELINT) and communications intelligence (COMINT) emitters.
A ground station consisting of a mission control and launch and recovery elements will be provided by Northrop Grumman. Cassidian will provide a SIGINT ground station, which will receive and analyze the data from EURO HAWK® as part of an integrated system solution.
EURO HAWK® is an interoperable, modular and cost-effective replacement to the retired fleet of manned Dassault Breguet Atlantic aircraft, which was in service from 1972-2010. The flight test phase is currently scheduled through September 2013.
