Northrop Global Hawk UAS Northrop Grumman Corporation will begin production of four RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for ...
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| Northrop Global Hawk UAS |
The high altitude, long endurance Global Hawk can provide valuable wide-area intelligence gathering capabilities to military commnaders, representing a major boost for South Korea against North Korea.
Under a contract awarded on Dec. 16, the company will work closely with the U.S. Air Force to deliver the systems starting in 2018.
The contract is for four aircraft, two ground stations and supporting equipment that allows Republic of Korea Air Force operators to control and maintain the system.
The deal represents the first time a Global Hawk has been sold to an allied nation in the Asia-Pacific region under the Foreign Military Sales process.
Japanese and Australian governments has also announced purchase of Global Hawk and its naval variant MQ-4C Triton.
The Global Hawk is operated by the USAF and U.S. Navy. The Global Hawk can climbs to 50,000 ft to see a wide area and can scan 100,000 km square of terrain a day.
It is powered by an single Allison Rolls-Royce AE3007H turbofan engine with 7,050 lbf (31.4 kN) thrust mounted top of the fuselage, enabling to carry a payload of 2,000 pounds (910 kilograms).
