Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk

The Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk (former Teledyne-Ryan Aeronautical Global Hawk) is a high-altitude, long endurance unmanned aerial reconnaissance system designed to provide military field commanders with high resolution, near real time imagery of large geographic areas.

Advanced technology sensors, a range greater than half way around the world, and the ability to remain on station for long periods of time will enable the Global Hawk to provide the war fighter with the essential intelligence needed to achieve information dominance throughout the battle ground well into the 21st century.

The program is managed by the USAF Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio. The test flying is managed by the 412th TW at Edwards AFB, CA.

The second RQ-4A Global Hawk prototype 95-2002 has crashed on March 29th 1999 at the south test range of China lake NAWS, CA during an avionics development test flight.

On March 6th 2001 Northrop Grumman signed a contract for the engineering, manufacturing and development stage. ($ 45 million)

On March 19th 2001 the RQ-4A 95-2001 made a record flight from Edwards AFB, CA to South America (to the equator) and back. Global Hawk took off at 18:52 hours, arrival time at Edwards was: March 21st 01:17 hours. Total flying time of 30 hours and 24 minutes.

On April 23rd 2001 the Global Hawk 98-2005 became the first autonomous aircraft to fly non-stop across the Pacific Ocean. The 23 hours flight took Global Hawk from its home base Edwards AFB to Royal Australian AFB Edinburgh, South Australia to participate in Tandem Thrust military exercises between US and Australian Forces.

Developing Nation:	United States
First Flight(s):	RQ-4A: February 1998 95-2001
First Delivery:	2003
First Operational:	October 2001, prototypes tested operational in operation Enduring Freedom
Task:	Unmanned reconnaissance

Specifications: RQ-4A
Crew:	None
Wing Span:	35,42 m
Length:	13,53 m
Height:	4,63 m
Engine (s):	One Rolls-Royce AE3007H
Max. take-off weight:	11.612 kg
Max. Payload:	907 kg
Cruise Speed:	Normal 343 Knots
Operating altitude:	19.810 m
Max. Range:	25.000 km
Performance:	maximum endurance 36 hours on-station endurance 24 hours
Sensors:	- Synthetic Aperture Radar - Moving Target Indicator Mode 4 Kts Minimum - Electro-Optical Infrared - Location Accuracy <20 m CEP - Wide Area Search 40000 sq Nm/Day - Target Coverage 1900 Spot Targets/Day
Communications:	SATCOM Data link LOS Data link

Global Hawk in action:

Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan October 7th 2001:

One of the two operational Global Hawks of the USAF has crashed on December 30th 2001, during the landing in the United Arab Emirates. A spokesman of the Pentagon said that the accident was a 'control surface malfunction immediately followed by a data link break' This was the only RQ-4A with the Raytheon electro optical/infrared payload set on board