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The U.S. Navy is expected to take delivery of its first Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle next week, a spokeswoman for prime contractor Northrop Grumman said Sept. 30.
The RQ-4A Global Hawk will be flown from a Northrop Grumman production plant in Palmdale, Calif., where the Navy will formally accept the air vehicle, to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., the company spokeswoman told The DAILY.
The vehicle will undergo testing at Edwards for several months before heading to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. to prepare for a future maritime demonstration.
A second Global Hawk is also under production for the Navy demonstration and is expected to leave the Northrop Grumman plant in Palmdale in a few months.
The maritime demonstration is intended to help the Navy determine how to use UAVs for reconnaissance.
Northrop Grumman's main customer for Global Hawk is the U.S. Air Force, which has taken delivery of 10 air vehicles and is buying 48 more.
Navy Global Hawk
Originally posted by longbow
Is it able to operate from carriers, or it is just land based version like Orion or Nimrod?
Originally posted by FredT
Originally posted by longbow
Is it able to operate from carriers, or it is just land based version like Orion or Nimrod?
I think it will land based. Im not too sure of its takeoff run, but I doubt it could handle cat shots to get off the deck.
Originally posted by waynos
The Global Hawk looks set to become a very popular type, the Germans are after it to replace their ELINT Atlantics and the RAF is interested in using it to replace the Canberra PR.9 and Nimrod R.1
Originally posted by longbow
Wow, it looks big, i thought it is just small drone.
Originally posted by craigandrew
Oh yeah - 8 Global Hawks or 12 Predator Mariners.
But the loss ratio does seem horrific on both.
Like if we took delivery of our last F-18 in 1990 and lost 40 by 1995, instead of 3. Heads would roll.
Our government wants to be able to hang missiles off them if they deploy to warzones.
Australia is also trialling a cheap local UAV with 24hr aloft capacity called the Aeromonde (company name, Just known as the Aeromonde UAV)