A look at how a Global Hawk is built

Actually it's a look at building a NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) aircraft but it's basically a RQ-4 Gloabal Hawk. It's also neat to be able to see inside one of Northrup Grumman's production facilities at Moss Point, MS and Plant 42 in Palmdale, CA.

Zaph, maybe you could get a job driving those wing sections around.

Expanding NATO’s joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability, Northrop Grumman Corporation and its industry partners together with NATO leaders unveiled the first NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) aircraft to an audience of customers, distinguished guests, employees and community leaders on June 4, 2015 in Palmdale, California.

The unmanned aircraft, a wide area surveillance Global Hawk, is part of a broader system of systems solution that will advance the Alliance’s evolving ISR needs during a full range of NATO’s missions such as protection of ground troops and civilian populations, border control and maritime safety, the fight against terrorism, crisis management and humanitarian assistance in natural disasters.

The full NATO AGS system consists of air, ground, mission operations and support elements, performing all-weather, persistent wide-area terrestrial and maritime surveillance in near real-time.

www.youtube.com...

Pretty cool video. I was waiting for a red light to start moving from side to side on the front of that thing like a cylon.

Wow didn't realize how large they actually are until you see a bunch of techs walking around them. Always thought they were like the size of a pair of cars or something.

Cool stuff.

a reply to: newWorldSamurai

They keep those covered while it's on the ground.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

Yeah, they are deceptively large. They have a larger wingspan than a 757 by 6ft.

I didnt realize that right down the street from me is a NG prod facility! well maybe not right down the road, but within 30 miles lol

In this age of computers and robots, it's nice to see something this sophisticated is still put together by hand by a bunch of guys and gals wearing hard hats in a great big hanger. Great video!

a reply to: Sammamishman

I'll drive the fuselage from Mississippi to Palmdale.

a reply to: Zaphod58

So? Should we all be on the lookout for blue fabric trailers?

a reply to: SonofaSkunk

There are so many curtainside trailers out there you've probably been next to one and didn't know.

Now if you really want to see something fun, hang out near Long Beach. Once a week a Hornet fuselage minus cockpit, wings, and elevators comes out of production heading to St Louis to be completed.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: SonofaSkunk

There are so many curtainside trailers out there you've probably been next to one and didn't know.

Now if you really want to see something fun, hang out near Long Beach. Once a week a Hornet fuselage minus cockpit, wings, and elevators comes out of production heading to St Louis to be completed.

Yea, El Segundo…an F-35 Center Fuse heads out of Palmdale every 4 days also now.

a reply to: Sammamishman

NG added some recent flight test footage to the end of the original video:



Flight took place Dec. 19th.

a reply to: Sammamishman

any one else notice those posters they blurred out they forgot to blur in a few scenes....very interesting

a reply to: newWorldSamurai

I was waiting for a red light to start moving from side to side on the front of that thing like a cylon.

Now that would make it even more menacing.

Next year the first Global Hawk with a universal payload adapter will fly. They plan to test it with the Optical Bar Camera and SYERS-II payloads to prove that it works. By the time it is certified, the SYERS-II payload will have received the latest upgrade, mounting a gimballed sensor increasing the field of view to 20 degrees.

a reply to: penroc3

Can you post a screen shot? The only posters I can see on my phone are Globalhawk and Triton posters.

I did see two Firescouts sitting next to the assembly line.

Those are way bigger than I thought.

I thought small electronics was where it's at? You might as well convert an existing airplane into a remote controlled one!

a reply to: MystikMushroom

If you want something that can loiter at high altitude that means a fairly large wing area. The Global Hawk was designed to loiter at 60,000 feet.

a reply to: Zaphod58

its crazy to think it has to look DOWN as far as we on the ground have to look UP to see commercial jets