RQ-4 Global Hawk flew over my house, page 1

I live in CT and a RQ-4 Global Hawk just flew over my house a few minutes ago. Does Sikorsky have anything to do with this or is this most likely a surveillance on the American people? If I had to guess it was flying at under 1,000 feet which is odd I would think.

What are they up to?

reply to post by libertytoall

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It's the MQ-4 Triton BAMS test bed flying out of Pax River in Maryland. The Navy is testing it for future use as an antiship/antipiracy surveillance and communications aircraft.

www.as.northropgrumman.com...
en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by libertytoall

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Probably a GPS test/drill.
Rut-Ro.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by libertytoall

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It's the MQ-4 Triton BAMS test bed flying out of Pax River in Maryland. The Navy is testing it for future use as an antiship/antipiracy surveillance and communications aircraft.

www.as.northropgrumman.com...
en.wikipedia.org...

You're right it looked exactly like the Triton.

reply to post by libertytoall

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Same basic airframe, slightly different mission. The BAMS will carry an electro-optical camera that can survey several thousand square miles at a time, and see a small ship within that area. It's a fairly revolutionary new system.

reply to post by Infi8nity

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Hollywood has gone hard core on stopping illegal movie downloads.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by Infi8nity

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Hollywood has gone hard core on stopping illegal movie downloads.

LOL im taking that your joking. I just got out of the shower, covered in fluoride. Im a bit slow at the moment.
Piracy as in boats...

reply to post by Infi8nity

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Yes, piracy as in what we've seen in the Gulf of Aden.

reply to post by libertytoall

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BAMS is going to have an AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar, as well as a mechanical rotation that gives it a 360 degree field of view, as well as "Due Regard Radar" which will allow it to see other aircraft between six and nine miles away. It will have a field of view 20 degrees nose up and down, and 110 degrees side to side. It's also going to have a two way radio for the pilots to talk to ATC, deicing boots, and a beefier wing. When operating within 12 miles of US airspace, they have to have a special operating agreement with the FAA that is most likely going to require a chase plane (that's what the Air Force does when they depart California with their RQ-4s).

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by Infi8nity

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Yes, piracy as in what we've seen in the Gulf of Aden.

Now there is a use for Drones that makes all the sense in the world. How else to patrol millions of square miles of water with something other than a Satellite with it's limited options? I'm all for THIS direction of drones being developed. After all, Piracy is a scourge from the Panama Canal approaches to the Malacca Straits and of course the Gulf of Aden where a whole failed state seems to have adopted Piracy as their new means for national income.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

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This is what BAMS and UCLASS are designed for. UCLASS will be able to carry out a strike mission as well as a surveillance mission, so once they find a target, they can attack it and won't have to rely on other assets for the strike portion of the mission.

reply to post by libertytoall

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They're winglets. A lot of planes use them now. They allow for less drag, which means less fuel consumption, which means more mission time. Ok, now this is odd. I hadn't heard anything about them putting winglets on, but i just was looking and can't find a single picture of the wingtips of the MQ-4.

Winglets add weight to the wingtip, so the wing has to be stressed differently, but the MQ-4 was supposed to have a stronger wing anyway. The performance benefits more than outweigh the added weight, and changes to the wing tip design.

Some common winglets:

Sharkfin:


Blended:


Original:


737MAX (future winglet):

reply to post by Zaphod58

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These winglets looked completely vertical. There was also an all white plane flying minutes later at higher altitude after looking at some pictures it seems like it COULD have been a P8 Poseidon?

reply to post by libertytoall

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The Navy and Air Force both fly 737s as both transports, and VIP transports. I believe the P-8 is in Florida doing testing and training right now. There is currently only one operational one.

reply to post by libertytoall

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Dude, get rid of your "tomato" plants, pronto!

Seriously though, I've heard that they're flying them up here with FLIR, looking for grow-op heat sigs-warrant, schwarrant. Have any strange neighbors?

reply to post by xquietonex

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I don't know about that.. I'm more inclined to agree it was a military exercise / test of some kind.

reply to post by libertytoall

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Could very well be, just throwing my 0.02 for what it's worth.

See them pretty steady flying over the US/Can border airspace, patrolling, I guess, actually saw one on the apron at Calgary once-a global hawk, I think.

Only getting more and more common to see these days, unfortunately

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