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28 octobre 2015 3 28 /10 /octobre /2015 12:35
A U.S. Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk soars through the sky during a reconnaissance mission. U.S. Air Force photo

A U.S. Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk soars through the sky during a reconnaissance mission. U.S. Air Force photo

 

Oct. 23, 2015 By Ryan Maass (UPI)

 

SEOUL -- Northrop Grumman corporate officials and industrial partners in South Korea celebrated the first unmanned aerial vehicle component parts manufactured in the country on Thursday. The company officials met during the Seoul International Aerospace Defense Exhibition (ADEX), an industrial aerospace and defense exhibition showcasing around 400 firms. Firstec and Korea Jig and Fixtures displayed component parts for the RQ-4 Global Hawk, an unmanned aerial vehicle designed for high-altitutde, long-endurance intelligence and reconnaissance operations.

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18 mars 2015 3 18 /03 /mars /2015 12:45
Maroc/Etats-Unis : Des drones américains pour l'armée marocaine ?

 

17.03.2015 Par El Hadji Mamadou Gueye - yabiladi.com

 

Alors que les F-16 de l’armée marocaine participent actuellement aux combats menés contre Daesh, le royaume pourrait bénéficier de nouvelles armes américaines. Il figure en tout cas sur une liste très réduite de pays susceptibles d’être les premiers acheteurs de drones US types MQ-9 Reaper et Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk.

 

L’armée marocaine a récemment déployé ses F-16 (de fabrication américaine) pour participer aux combats menés par un groupe de pays contre l’organisation "Etat Islamique" en Irak et en Syrie. Le Maroc et les Etats-Unis pourraient même franchir une nouveau cap dans leur coopération militaire puisque le Maroc est sur une liste très réduite de pays qui pourraient être les premiers bénéficiaires des drones américains.

En effet, selon le journal National Interest, le royaume serait parmi les cinq premiers pays au monde à recevoir des drones US types MQ-9 Reaper et le Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, fabriqués par General Atomics. Il figure dans cette liste avec l’Inde, le Brésil ou encore le Canada et Singapour.

 

Surveiller les groupes terroristes au Mali, Libye, Algérie

Ces drones, selon la même source, pourraient être utiles dans la surveillance des frontières maroco-algériennes, notamment dans les zones où s’activent des groupes extrémistes. National Interest explique que le royaume est situé dans une région qui est en proie à des mouvements fondamentalistes islamiques qui doivent être combattus, faisant ainsi référence au Mali, à la Libye et une partie de l’Algérie. 

Outre les Lockheed Martin F-16, l’armée marocaine exploite d’autres équipements américains tels que les drones non armés Predator XP et avait aussi acquis en 2014 de nouveaux lots de missiles pour les F-16. Mais si l’accord est conclu, il pourrait disposer de drones armés pour surveiller les mouvements de groupes terroristes.

En 2014, le Maroc avait également acheté trois drones au fabricant français Dassault. Il s'agit de drones Heron TP de fabrication israélienne (Israel Aerospace Industries), capables de « mener des missions de reconnaissance et de collecte d’informations à plus de 40 000 pieds, et dotés d'une autonomie de vol de 36 heures ». Compte tenu de sa taille, le Heron TP peut transporter différents équipements : radars, détecteurs, des caméras, missiles...

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21 janvier 2015 3 21 /01 /janvier /2015 07:35
Japan Selects Northrop Grumman's E-2D Advanced Hawkeye and RQ-4 Global Hawk to Improve Intel Gathering Capabilities

 

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. – Jan. 18, 2015 – Northrop Grumman

 

The Japan Ministry of Defense has selected two Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) systems to enhance its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.

 

Under a process known as type selection, the Japanese government chose the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft and the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system to help maintain the country's sovereignty.

 

Type selection identifies the capabilities and systems to be purchased to meet specific defense requirements. Following selection, the U.S. government will be asked to enter into the foreign military sale (FMS) process for these items.

 

"Northrop Grumman has a long history working with Japan's Air Self-Defense Force and we look forward to continuing that relationship for many years to come," said Mary Petryszyn, vice president for International, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. "We are very pleased the Japan Ministry of Defense has expressed confidence in these systems and look forward to working with our U.S. military customers through the FMS process."

 

Contract terms, timing and quantities of aircraft are yet to be determined and, as such, details are not available at this time.

 

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.

Japan Selects Northrop Grumman's E-2D Advanced Hawkeye and RQ-4 Global Hawk to Improve Intel Gathering Capabilities
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8 janvier 2015 4 08 /01 /janvier /2015 17:20
Northrop Claims New Record for Global Hawk UAV

Jan 8, 2015 defense-unmanned.com

(Source: Northrop Grumman; issued Jan 7, 2015)

High Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Aircraft Series Sets New Flight Record

SAN DIEGO --- The U.S. Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk and other variants of Northrop Grumman Corporation's High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) series continued to prove their value to U.S. government agencies by flying more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) mission hours in one week than ever before.

The UAS series flew 781 hours from Sept. 10-16. The Air Force's RQ-4 Global Hawk flew 87 percent of the missions; the U.S. Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance- Demonstration (BAMS-D) aircraft and NASA's Global Hawk hurricane research asset flew the rest. HALE's far-reaching weekly record surpasses the company's previous weekly flight record of 665 hours set in February.

"There are at least two Global Hawks in the air at all times providing indispensable ISR information to those that need it," said Mick Jaggers, Global Hawk UAS program director, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. "The 2014 fiscal year was the most active yet for the Global Hawk, with a 40 percent year over year increase in flight hours."

Within weeks of the record, Northrop Grumman delivered two new RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft to the Air Force. A wide area surveillance model arrived at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, on Sept. 10 and Beale Air Force Base. received a multi-INT model Oct. 3.

The increases in flight hours and size of the fleet will give combatant commanders more ISR capabilities at a time when demand often outstrips aircraft availability.

Manufactured at Northrop Grumman facilities in Moss Point, Mississippi, and Palmdale, these latest RQ-4 Global Hawk models complete a four aircraft buy by the Air Force and brings the Air Force's total Global Hawk fleet to 33. In August, the Air Force signed an agreement requesting three more Global Hawks. Those aircraft are scheduled for delivery in 2016 and 2017.

Northrop Grumman's HALE UAS series have exceeded more than 130,000 total flight hours. An average of 75 percent of flight hours are in support of combat/operational missions.

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide.

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17 décembre 2014 3 17 /12 /décembre /2014 17:35
Seoul finalises $657 million Global Hawk purchase

 

17.12.2014 by Craig Hoyle – FG

 

Northrop Grumman has been awarded a contract worth more than $657 million to provide South Korea with a surveillance fleet of RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned air vehicles.

Detailed by the US Department of Defense in a contract notification announcement dated 16 December, the deal will cover the provision of four Block 30-standard RQ-4B Global Hawks, enhanced integrated sensor suite mission payloads “and the applicable ground control environment elements”.

Work under the Foreign Military Sales contract will conclude by June 2019, the DoD says.

 

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17 novembre 2014 1 17 /11 /novembre /2014 17:20
Northrop to continue support for USAF Global Hawk systems

A USAF RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft in flight. photo Bobbi Zapra USAF

 

17 November 2014 airforce-technology.com

 

Northrop Grumman has been awarded a contract to continue the provision of logistics and sustainment services for the US Air Force's (USAF) RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

 

Awarded by the US Department of Defense, the $306m contract continues an existing contract for Global Hawk maintenance, inventory management, parts procurement and other tasks necessary to ensure the availability of the unmanned platform.

 

In particular, the agreement covers the aircraft as well as mission control elements and forward-operating location support.

 

Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems Global Hawk director Mick Jaggers said: "In a turbulent world, Global Hawk's unparalleled reliability has made it an indispensable asset to the US Air Force.

 

"Our team takes great pride in supporting the warfighter with an aircraft system that is ready and available whenever and wherever it's needed."

 

Powered by an Allison Rolls-Royce AE3007H turbofan engine, the Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance UAS designed to provide field commanders with high-resolution, near real-time imagery of large geographic areas in support of military, humanitarian and environmental missions.

 

Capable of carrying a range of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensor payloads, the UAS enables commanders to detect moving or stationary targets on the ground, while providing airborne communications and information sharing capabilities to military units in harsh environments.

 

The remotely piloted system has been used by USAF during wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, in addition to supporting intelligence gathering and reconnaissance efforts after the earthquakes in Haiti and Japan.

 

Global Hawk is also being used by NASA for scientific and environmental research projects.

 

Different variants of Global Hawk have to date flown more than 130,000 flight hours, supporting diverse missions worldwide.

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25 juin 2014 3 25 /06 /juin /2014 17:20
An RQ-4 Global Hawk taxies on the flightline as a U-2 makes its final approach

An RQ-4 Global Hawk taxies on the flightline as a U-2 makes its final approach

 

June 25, 2014: Strategy Page

 

The U.S. Air Force has changed its mind about the RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV. The motivation here is the need to cut costs in the face of a shrinking air force budget. So now the air force is asking Congress for two billion dollars to upgrade some RQ-4s so they can fully replace the versatile, elderly and expensive-to-operate U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. The air force is saving a lot of money by retiring entire types of aircraft (like U-2s and A-10s). The A-10s will be completely replaced by F-16s and smart bombs.

 

For years the air force was dissatisfied with the performance and operating costs of the RQ-4, pointing out that the U-2 was cheaper and, because of better sensors, more useful. But the RQ-4 manufacturer brought down the costs and increased reliability. Despite that criticism from the U.S. Air Force, American aircraft manufacturer Northrop Grumman continued to find customers for its RQ-4. In large part that’s because the RQ-4 has been much improved since 2010. The RQ-4 has become more reliable, efficient and flexible. Several of the new customers (like South Korea and Japan) want to use it for maritime reconnaissance, something the U.S. Navy is already doing. The cost of operating the RQ-4 has also been greatly reduced over three years, from $40,600 an hour to $18,900. That happened largely because there were more RQ-4s in service and each was flying more hours. That spread overhead costs over more flight hours. There was also a sharp reduction (by $14,000 an hour) in contractor support costs, largely brought on by improved aircraft reliability. Another factor driving this decline in costs was the air force threat to get rid of many RQ-4s because it was cheaper, per flight hour, to use the much older manned U-2s. Now that is no longer the case and the air force has backed away from dropping its RQ-4s and instead wants to retire the U-2s instead.

 

Back in 2011 the U.S. Air Force very publically gave up on the RQ-4. This came in the form of an air force announcement that they had stopped buying the RQ-4. Not only that but ten of the thirty-one Block 30 models ordered were cancelled. None of the planned Block 40 aircraft were to be built. Global Hawk remained in production because there were other users who were not as displeased as the air force. The U.S. Navy is buying 68 MQ-4C “Triton” BAMS (Broad Area Maritime Surveillance) models plus the two prototypes. Triton is to enter service by 2017.

 

While the RQ-4 has always been hailed as a revolutionary and successful system, most of the recon and surveillance jobs in the last decade were handled by the more reliable, cheaper, and numerous Predator and Reaper UAVs. Meanwhile, the air force was having more and more problems with the RQ-4, and that led to the public denunciation of the RQ-4 and Northrop Grumman. But as the war on terror dies down and the potential opponents include countries with air defenses, the higher flying RQ-4 becomes more valuable.

 

The 2011 decision was the result of the air force and the manufacturer feuding over design, cost, and quality control issues. The last straw was the unreliability of the new Block 30 models. This renewed Department of Defense threats to cancel the program. But manufacturer Northrop Grumman lobbyists have made sure the key members of Congress knew where Global Hawk components were being built and how many jobs that added up to. While that delayed the RQ-4 Block 30 cancellation it did not stop it. The air force was placated for a while when Northrop Grumman fixed some of the problems (some of which the manufacturer said don't exist or didn't matter). The Block 30 was supposed to be good to go, but the air force was not convinced and decided that Block 30 was just more broken promises. Congress was also tired of all the feuding and being caught between Northrup lobbyists and exasperated air force generals. Then there was political decision to cut the defense budget over the next decade. Something had to go.

 

You'd think the RQ-4 would be somewhat perfected by 2011. It was closer to that than many believed and is now considered a lot more reliable. Development of the RQ-4 began in the 1990s, as a DARPA research project. By 2006, per-aircraft costs were twenty-five percent over the original price. By 2007, production schedules had slipped as well. The air force and Northrop Grumman disagreed over what caused these problems. The air force blamed it on poor management. Northrop Grumman said it's all about dealing with complex technology. The air force pointed out that the RQ-4 was not high tech. The sensors often are but they are added to the aircraft after they came off the production line. Northrop Grumman continued to stonewall the air force and showed no signs of making any basic changes. Some air force procurement officials believed Northrop Grumman diverted resources to foreign customers, while taking advantage of the fact that there was no other supplier the air force could go to for long range UAVs. There was a lot of bad blood between the user and the manufacturer, which is not a good thing.

 

There were sixteen of the RQ-4A ("Block 10") aircraft built, fourteen for the U.S. Air Force, and two for the U.S. Navy. The later models were the larger RQ-4B (block 20, 30, and 40). Production has been consistently behind what Northrop Grumman had earlier promised. The air force originally planned to buy over forty Block 30s and wanted to get them faster, and with the reliability problems fixed. That did not work out before the war on terror largely ended and with it the big defense budgets.

 

In 2011, the air force transferred its remaining seven early model (Block 10) RQ-4s to other government agencies. These UAVs began flying nearly a decade ago and each has spent, on average, some three-thousand hours in the air. Some have spent over seven-thousand hours in the air, while others have mostly stayed on the ground. On average, these Block 10 aircraft flew once a week. But some ninety percent of hours flown were in combat operations. Subsequent models (Block 20, 30, and 40) had greater carrying capacity and reliability. Many payloads (various sensors) are designed for the larger models. But the Block 10 is still useful for civilian missions (disaster monitoring, border patrol, and all sorts of research).

 

Things had started off on a more promising note. The RQ-4 was still in development on September 11, 2001, but was rushed into action. The first production RQ-4A was not delivered until August, 2003. Although the RQ-4 could stay in the air for up to forty-two hours, all of them had only amassed about four-thousand flight hours by 2004. But most of those four-thousand hours, which were originally planned to involve testing of a new aircraft, were instead used to perform combat missions. Global Hawk also got to fly under difficult conditions, something an aircraft still being developed would not do.

 

In 2008, an RQ-4A Global Hawk made the first non-stop crossing of the Pacific, flying twelve-thousand kilometers from California to Australia in twenty-three hours. The Global Hawk has previously crossed the Pacific in several hops but it always had the endurance to do it non-stop. In the last decade RQ-4s have flown over fifty-five-thousand hours, most of that combat missions, and many of them from Persian Gulf bases. The latest models can fly twenty hour missions, land for refueling and maintenance, and be off in four hours for another twenty hours in the sky. But the reliability issues with the Block 30 made the longer missions infrequent. Otherwise, the RQ-4 has been very reliable, with aircraft being ready for action ninety-five percent of the time. An RQ-4 can survey about four-thousand square kilometers an hour.

 

The U.S. Air Force pays over $150 million for a fully equipped RQ-4, but only about 35 percent of that is for the UAV itself. Include payload (sensors and communications) and development costs and it nearly triples. The B version is about ten percent larger (wingspan of 42.3 meters/131 feet, and 15.5 meters/48 feet long) than the A model and can carry an additional two tons of equipment. To support that, there's a new generator that produces 150 percent more electrical power. The B version is a lot more reliable. Early A models tended to fail and crash at the rate of once every thousand flight hours, mostly because of design flaws. It was those flaws and delays in fixing them that got the air force so angry. The first three RQ-4Bs entered service in 2006, with some of those flaws still present, and it took over five years to clear that up.

 

At thirteen tons the Global Hawk is the size of a commuter airliner (like the Embraer ERJ 145) but costs more than twice as much. Global Hawk can be equipped with much more powerful, and expensive, sensors than other UAVs. These sensors comprise most of the cost of the aircraft. The spy satellite quality sensors (especially AESA radar) are usually worth the expense because they enable the UAV, flying at over 20,000 meters (60,000 feet), to get a sharp picture of all the territory it can see from that altitude.  

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17 mai 2014 6 17 /05 /mai /2014 20:45
Air Force assisting search for missing girls in Nigeria

 

 

May. 16, 2014 - By Brian Everstine - .airforcetimes.com

 

The Air Force is flying manned MC-12W Liberty and unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance sorties over Nigeria to assist in locating more than 200 girls kidnapped by militants.

 

The Nigerian government requested the flights, and the Defense Department is “focused on helping them find the school girls,” Pentagon spokesman Army Lt. Col Myles Caggins said Thursday.

 

“We will continue to deepen and widen our efforts in assisting them to locate these girls,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the same day during a visit to Saudi Arabia. “I have seen no intelligence come back that I’m aware of that shows that we’ve located those girls.”

 

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4 avril 2014 5 04 /04 /avril /2014 07:20
Global Hawk Expands Satellite Communications Capability

 

BEALE AIR FORCE BASE – April 3, 2014 – Northrop Grumman

 

Demonstration at Beale Air Force Base proves system can send data independent of command and control

 

The U.S. Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS) has completed a series of ground and air demonstrations at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., expanding the adaptability of the Global Hawk system to use an additional Satellite Communications (SATCOM) link to improve the transfer of mission data.

 

At the request of the U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command, Northrop Grumman worked with Air Force partners to demonstrate that Global Hawk is compatible with different SATCOM architectures with no changes to the aircraft's hardware, software or payload. Taking place from Jan. 13-15, the demonstration highlighted a unique split link capability for Global Hawk that allows it to send mission data through a satellite link that is independent of the link used for command and control.

 

"This powerful demonstration illustrates Global Hawk's unique versatility," said Alfredo Ramirez, director and chief architect of Northrop Grumman's HALE Enterprise. "We're ecstatic with Global Hawk's ability to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance products to operational end-users via multiple paths."

 

The combat-proven Global Hawk has logged more than 110,000 flight hours and carries a variety of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensor payloads to allow military commanders to gather near real-time images and uses radar to detect moving or stationary targets on the ground or at sea. The system supports antiterrorism, antipiracy, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, airborne communications and information sharing missions.

 

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.

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22 novembre 2013 5 22 /11 /novembre /2013 12:20
Block 40 Global Hawk goes to 'war': USAF

 

Nov. 22, 2013 by Jon Hemmerdinger – FG

 

Washington DC - Northrop Grumman’s unmanned RQ-4 Block 40 Global Hawk has gone to “war” for the first time, according to the US Air Force.

 

The service announced today that on 19 September a Block 40, which has synthetic-aperture radar and ground-moving target indicators, departed Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota on a mission that marked the “first time this specific model has been deployed into war.”

 

That comment was made by the 69th Reconnaissance Group’s Col Lawrence Spinetta in an article written by the public affairs division of the air force’s 319th Air Base Wing at Grand Forks.

 

The public affairs office declined to say where the aircraft went and did not provide additional details about the flight.

 

The office adds that the announcement needed to be cleared by high-level defense officials, which is why it was released more than one month after the flight.

 

Global Hawks can fly 12,300nm (22,780km), and the air force flies them on missions from the US to the Middle East.

 

“Any time we send a jet out of Grand Forks and 24 hours later it arrives right on center line... in the Middle East, that amazes me,” Spinetta told Flightglobal last week during a media briefing at the base.

 

“Lack of a manned pilot onboard is a strength,” Spinetta added.

 

Block 20s, which fly communications relay missions, have been used in Afghanistan to transmit messages over mountains, Spinetta added.

 

Block 40s have a multi-platform radar technology insertion programme (MP-RTIP), an air-to-surface radar that provides wide-area surveillance of stationary and moving targets, according to Northrop’s website.

 

The aircraft has a wingspan of 131ft (40m), length of 47.6ft (14.5m) and a gross takeoff weight of 32,250lb (14,628kg), says the manufacturer.

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20 novembre 2013 3 20 /11 /novembre /2013 17:20
US Air Force Drops Sensor Improvements on New Global Hawks

Airmen work on an RQ-4 Global Hawk after it returned to Beale Air Force Base, Calif. The US Air Force has decided not to pursue an adapter that would improve the Block 30's sensor suite. (US Air Force)

 

Nov. 20, 2013 - By BRIAN EVERSTINE – Defense news

 

The US Air Force will not buy a “universal payload adapter” to attach sensors from the U-2 to a variant of the unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk, another sign that the service is not interested in keeping the brand-new planes in the sky.

 

The Block 30 variant of the Global Hawk, a massive unmanned aircraft designed for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, has been repeatedly targeted for cuts by the Air Force. The service planned to move the aircraft straight from the production line to the boneyard in 2013, but that move was blocked by Congress.

 

The Block 30’s sensor suite is not as capable as the U-2, and Global Hawk builder Northrop Grumman has been designing an adapter to attach the superior system to the unmanned aircraft. The Air Force, however, does not intend to use the adapter, said Maj. Ryan Simms, the chief of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and remotely pilot aircraft policy in the headquarters Air Force executive action group.

 

Northrop Grumman officials said earlier this year that they are working through internal research and development on the adapter. Tom Vice, head of Northrop’s Aerospace Systems sector, told reporters in August that it was a “mature technology.”

 

The Air Force called the adapter “feasible,” and said it would cost about $487 million. It would take three years to develop and test, followed by another two years of production, according to an April report sent to congressional defense committees.

 

The adapter would attach the Optical Bar Camera or Senior Year Electro-Optical Reconnaissance System-2b sensors, in addition to Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload.

 

Simms told Air Force Times on Tuesday that budget restrictions will prevent the service from moving forward with the adapter.

 

Despite their uncertain future, Block 30s are currently flying humanitarian aid and military missions, Simms said. One Global Hawk in the Philippines has flown 50 hours and taken 300 pictures, he said.

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13 septembre 2013 5 13 /09 /septembre /2013 11:20
US Air Force to buy additional RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30s

September 12th, 2013 By Zach Rosenberg – FG

 

Washington DC - The US Air Force has issued a pre-solicitation notice to purchase additional Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 unmanned air vehicles (UAV), despite the potential retirement of the existing fleet.

 

The Air Force released a pre-solicitation notice on 12 September, notifying the public of its intent to buy Lot 12 aircraft.

 

The Block 30, initially purchased to augment and eventually replace the Lockheed Martin U-2 as a high-altitude intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft, has come under fire for reliability and sensor problems. A low rate of mission readiness coupled with the high cost of operation has led the USAF to repeatedly attempt to cancel the programme, saying that the U-2 and a classified platform could fulfill Global Hawk's mission. The sensors Global Hawk carries, the Enhanced Imagery Sensor Suite (EISS) and Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload (ASIP), received mixed reviews.

 

"Against AF [Air Force] recommendations, AF was directed in the FY13 NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] to procure the GH [Global Hawk] Block 30 Lot 11 aircraft (3)--so we are," says a senior Air Force official, who requested anonymity. "Per our assessment, the current fleet of 18 GH Block 30 aircraft is sufficient to meet the required demand for high-altitude ISR support--and when delivered, the additional 3 aircraft will be "excess to need" and will very likely be designated as backup aircraft inventory (or attrition reserve)."

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23 août 2013 5 23 /08 /août /2013 12:50
Euro Hawk décollage de la BA De de Manching 11.01.2013 photo EADS - CAssidian

Euro Hawk décollage de la BA De de Manching 11.01.2013 photo EADS - CAssidian

22 Aug 2013 By Zach Rosenberg – FG

 

Washington DC - Germany has denied that negotiations are ongoing in an attempt to salvage Northrop Grumman's Euro Hawk unmanned air vehicle (UAV) deal, nixed in May over airspace concerns.

 

The German ministry of defence expressed "surprise" with comments by Northrop vice-president Tom Vice, who spoke to reporters on 20 August.

 

"We're continuing to work with the Germans to find a solution on this programme," Vice said. "We continue to have discussions, but the thing we continue to point out is that the capability continues to match their needs. The programme is going extremely well we're making a lot of progress, we're having discussions, we'll see where that ends up."

 

The ministry is seeking clarification from involved companies.

 

The programme, meant to supply surveillance capabilities to Germany using four modified RQ-4 Global Hawks, is formally scheduled to end in September. The programme's cancellation was largely a result of Germany's airspace regulators, expressing concern over integrating UAVs routinely into airspace.

 

"The Global Hawk programme has 97% of its life ahead of it. It's a maturing programme," Vice said.

 

In the USA, Global Hawk has its own problems. Citing high costs and sub-par performance, the US Air Force is seeking to retire the Global Hawk Block 30, originally meant to replace the aging Lockheed U-2 in its surveillance role, while continuing operations of the Block 40.

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5 septembre 2012 3 05 /09 /septembre /2012 11:45

RQ-4 Block 10 Global Hawk KQ-X programme

 

September 5, 2012 defense-unmanned.com

(Source: ABC News; issued September 4, 2012)

 

The Australian Defence Force is quietly resurrecting plans to buy seven huge intelligence and surveillance drones that could cost up to $3 billion. The unmanned aerial vehicles will be used for maritime surveillance and intercepting asylum seeker boats.

The decision comes despite claims that the Royal Australian Air Force's top commanders have long opposed the acquisition of unmanned aerial vehicles because they will put pilots out of a job and threaten RAAF culture.

The $200 million Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance drone is the largest, most expensive unmanned aerial vehicle in the world today.

Its vast wingspan of 39.8 metres can lift the craft to 65,000 feet and stay airborne for 35 hours with a non-stop range of 16,000 kilometres – eclipsing the endurance of similar manned aircraft.

In 2004, the Howard government was so impressed with Global Hawk that plans were announced to buy a fleet of 12 of the spy drones for $1 billion.

But in 2009 the acquisition was cancelled by Labor's Joel Fitzgibbon, who was defence minister at the time.

In May 2010, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott announced a Coalition government would buy three Global Hawks.

Despite this erratic political flight path, the idea of Australian Global Hawks remained in bureaucratic mothballs until July this year, when the latest Defence Capability Plan was quietly released.

Buried in the document were plans to bring forward by three years the acquisition of "high altitude, long endurance" unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The RAAF now wants seven large UAVs flying by 2019. The favoured option is a new, maritime surveillance version of the Global Hawk - the MQ-4C Triton. The estimated cost of the project is between $2 billion and $3 billion.

Triton had a shaky take-off in June 2012, when a demonstration version of the maritime drone crashed just three days before the official unveiling ceremony at Northrop Grumman's Californian factory.

A company spokesman insists the demonstrator that went down was an old, worn-out Global Hawk, bearing little resemblance to the new, improved Triton.

When it takes to the skies for the first time later this year, Triton will appear to be a slightly larger version of its cousin, Global Hawk.

However, leading American intelligence analyst and author Matthew Aid says they are two very different drones.

"Global Hawk was designed for pin-point imagery or eavesdropping on land targets, by over flight, or by flying obliquely up to 450 kilometres off an enemy’s coastline," he said.

"Triton was designed for broad area maritime surveillance – following ships from high altitude."

The US Navy expects to start flying the first of 68 Tritons on order by 2015.

Some will be based on the US territory of Guam to cover the Asia-Pacific region, while another detachment will fly out of Diego Garcia to monitor the Indian Ocean.

In March, the Washington Post reported
that the US is also considering basing Global Hawk/Triton on Australia's Cocos Islands.


The US Navy claims a single Triton 24-hour surveillance mission can cover nearly 7 million square kilometres of ocean – identifying every vessel in one vast sweep of the ocean.

But Mr Aid remains unimpressed. "Triton does not have anywhere near the range or payload capability of the Global Hawk, and from what I can gather its imaging sensors are nowhere near as good," he said.

The Royal Australian Air Force now wants Triton to support a new generation of manned maritime patrol aircraft, the P-8A, which looks like a converted 737 airliner.

Together, these two systems will replace the RAAF's aging fleet of P-3 Orions that have spent decades patrolling the vast expanse of ocean surrounding Australia - about 20 per cent of the world's sea surface.

Capable of being armed with both missiles and torpedos, the 8 P8 Poseidons already on order will also be capable of anti-submarine warfare.

But is Global Hawk/Triton worth the hefty price tag of at least $200 million each?

Andrew Davies of the Canberra-based Australian Strategic Policy Institute is not so sure.

"That's still a question to be answered. It can fly high and fast, but is really expensive. Each UAV plus ground support systems costs about $200 million each - you can buy a P8 for that," he said.

"So they’re not cheap. The question is can you do the job with a cheaper UAV?

"The Mariner is the maritime version of the Reaper (flown in Afghanistan and Pakistan). It flies slower and lower which can be a good thing as it can drop down and take a closer look at asylum boats for instance, with decks covered by tarps.

"The Mariner is much cheaper, priced in the tens of millions."

In 2006 the Mariner was put through its paces in a trial off Australia's North West Shelf. Mariner supporters say it offers 80 per cent of the capability of a Triton for one-tenth of the cost.

That is a powerful argument in Canberra these days, where the Defence budget has just been slashed by $5.5 billion.

Unlike the high flying unarmed Triton, the Mariner is also designed to carry missiles.

Mr Davies says low cost and an armed capability will be a big plus when flying into regional uncertainty. "It's about the Indian Ocean and securing our sea lanes," he said.

"In the Indian Ocean we see growing competition between the navies of China, India and the US. US attention is now pivoting towards this part of the world."

Other experts argue there is a far more urgent, humanitarian task to perform – border protection.

Kym Bergmann, the editor of Asia Pacific Defence Reporter and a former defence industry executive who worked on UAV projects, says Global Hawk should have been in Australian service years ago.

He claims this did not happen because RAAF pilots feared UAVs would threaten their jobs and traditions.

"Early in 2008 the new Labor [Defence] Minister [Joel Fitzgibbon] had some sort of brain snap and made a very dramatic announcement to the effect that the acquisition of Global Hawk was going to be deferred for a decade," he said.

"At the time as a relatively inexperienced minister, he was stampeded by some of the advice that was coming from the Air Force in particular.

"It was because [the RAAF] really preferred the idea of having a manned aircraft. It's because a manned aircraft is flown by guys with moustaches and flying allowances, rather than being operated by hyper intelligent nerds sitting in front of computer terminals, which is essentially how you operate a Global Hawk."

Mr Bergmann claims the RAAF senior commanders dropped their opposition to Global Hawk/Triton only after they were promised the P8 planes that still need pilots to fly them.

"It's been quite a dramatic conversion. They’ve now become enthusiasts for the technology, when in fact for the previous decade they'd done everything that they could to resist it," he said.

He says Australia urgently needs a maritime UAV capability and that Global Hawk/Triton is the drone for the job.

"It's highly likely that we're going to see more asylum seekers coming to Australia, there's going to be the possibility of increased transnational crime, there's going to be the possibility of increased illegal activities," he said.

"The high-resolution cameras and synthetic aperture radars mean that from an altitude of 60,000 feet at a distance of several hundred kilometres, you can use both your radar and your camera to give you crystal clear imagery right down to very, very small boats.
"You can really get down to rowing boat sizes. The quality of the imagery is quite phenomenal."

A growing number of younger RAAF officers now enthusiastically endorse a rapid expansion of the drone fleet. Since 2009 the Air Force has been flying leased, Israeli-owned Heron surveillance drones in support of Australian troops in Afghanistan.

Displaying the zeal of a convert, Wing Commander Jonathan McMullan, an RAAF pilot-turned-drone commander, recently returned from Afghanistan, declared: "The capability? It's like crack cocaine, a drug for our guys involved."

Rise of civilian drones

Tonight on ABC1, “Foreign Correspondent” sounds the alarm on the swarms of private and government drones gathering in American skies and surely bound for the rest of the world.

Some of the drones have live streaming cameras and the ability to carry other payloads, and tens of thousands of them are expected to take to the sky.

But who's at the controls? Potentially, anybody.

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6 mai 2012 7 06 /05 /mai /2012 07:25
US House committee presses air force on Global Hawk

26 Apr 2012 By Zach Rosenberg - FG

 

Washington DC - The House Armed Services Committee has made the first move to reverse the US Air Force's controversial decision to retire the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 fleet.

 

The committee's panel on tactical air and land forces passed an amendment that would prevent the USAF from spending taxpayer funds on efforts to retire the RQ-4 Block 30s, an imagery and signals intelligence gathering version of the Global Hawk family.

 

The panel's recommendation signals the beginning of a legislative battle with the Obama administration over the fate of the Block 30 fleet. Three more committees in the House and Senate must still pass separate versions of spending bills for the next fiscal year.

 

The Obama administration submitted a budget request in February that proposes to retire the Block 30 fleet.

 

The Block 30 was built to replace the venerable Lockheed Martin U-2 as a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, but the programme was cancelled after the USAF concluded that it was significantly more expensive to operate than the U-2, and that the Block 30's sensors are inferior to the U-2's current equipment.

 

Since the retirement announcement in January 2012, Northrop has kept a full-court press in an attempt to keep the aircraft in service. Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities such as those the Global Hawk provides are among the most demanded services by combat commanders.

 

"Northrop Grumman is pleased that the House Armed Services Committee has proposed a solution that will allow Global Hawk Block 30 assets to continue to provide Combatant Commanders with information essential to national security," says Northrop.

 

Construction of other Global Hawk models, including the Block 40 (carrying a different sensor) and MQ-4C broad area maritime surveillance (BAMS) for the US navy, is unaffected.

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14 février 2012 2 14 /02 /février /2012 17:50
U-2 Defeats The Robots Again

photo USAF

 

February 14, 2012: STRATEGY PAGE

 

The U.S. Air Force, faced with substantial budget cuts, has cancelled orders for 18 RQ-4 Global Hawk UAVs. At the same time, the retirement of its U-2S reconnaissance aircraft has been delayed once again. Last year it was decided to keep the U-2 in service until 2016. Now the U-2 will keep flying until 2020, or later. The reason is the continued failure of the RQ-4 to prove it can replace the manned U-2. Moreover, the air force has been battling the RQ-4 manufacturer for years over reliability, capability and price issues. The basic problem was that the Global Hawk was never able to come close to the capabilities and reliability of the U-2. Although the U-2, which entered service 56 years ago, carries a pilot, it also carries more weight and has more than twice as much electrical power (for more capable sensors) than the RQ-4. The air force will keep over 50 RQ-4s in service, but the cancelled RQ-4s is a wakeup call to the manufacturer to do better, or lose even more sales.

 

It wasn't just the U.S. Air Force that was havening problems with the RQ-4. South Korea wanted to buy several of them, but eventually backed off as the price kept going up and delivery dates became increasingly vague. Instead of having their own long range recon aircraft, South Korea is looking for smaller substitutes. This might be Israeli Herons or American Reapers. Meanwhile, U-2s will continue to watch North Korea. The three American U-2s stationed in South Korea generally carry out one sortie a day. The cameras and electronic eavesdropping gear can record or photograph North Korean military activity up to a hundred kilometers north of the DMZ (the DeMilitarized Zone) that separates the two Koreas. In an emergency two or even all three U-2s can be put in the air.

 

Its popularity is running the U-2s ragged. Several U-2s have been in service over 40 years and spent nearly 30,000 hours in the air. One of these aircraft had made three belly (landing gear up) landings, requiring extensive rebuilding after each incident.

 

 

With a range of over 11,000 kilometers, the 18 ton U-2s typically fly missions 12 hours long. All U-2s have been upgraded to the Block 20 standard, so they can be kept in service until the end of this decade. Or at least until the 13 ton Global Hawk, or some other UAV is completely debugged and available in sufficient quantity to replace it.

 

The U-2 has been in service since 1955 and only 86 were built, of which 26 remain in service. Less than 900 pilots have qualified to fly the U-2 in that time. The heavy use of the U-2 has been hard on the pilots. Missions can be as long as 12 hours and pilots operate in a cockpit pressurized to conditions found at 9,600 meters (30,000 feet). This puts more strain on the pilot's body. That, and the fact that they breathe pure oxygen while up there, means they tend to be completely exhausted after returning from a long mission. U-2s also fly missions daily over the Middle East and Afghanistan.

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13 février 2012 1 13 /02 /février /2012 12:50
SGA 2012: NG considers reducing Global Hawk running costs

13 February 2012 - by Andrew White – Shepard Group

 

Northrop Grumman is studying ‘more efficient ways’ of operating the RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 UAS in order to reduce costs and force the US Department of Defense (DoD) into a dramatic U-turn, Shephard has been informed.

 

According to senior executives within the company, Northrop Grumman is looking at the ramifications and impact of the DoD’s decision on 26 January to cap the programme in favour of Lockheed Martin’s U-2 aircraft- a platform which has been in operation since 1956. Speaking to Shephard, Northrop Grumman executives said meetings were ongoing with USAF and OSD officials.

 

Further details of the cuts were expected to be unveiled in budget proposals submitted to Congress on 13 February. One company source said: ‘The air force has expressed concern at the loss of capability in theatres and we are having meetings with the air force and OSD and discussing what it would mean if [cuts were] implemented. This is a proposal and not a final decision.’

 

Claiming that the system was performing ‘very well’ overseas on operations, sources said the decision was budgetary and not value-driven. ‘[Global Hawk Block 30] programme of record was set up to replace the U-2 with all the same support mechanisms. For example, about a third of the U-2 fleet would be deployed while the remainder stay home for training and mission preparation. ‘Global Hawk doesn’t need to do that. These were assumptions made when we built the programme but it can be “skinnied” down considering what we’re learning,’ they added. ‘Most training for Global Hawk is conducted on the job during missions. There are huge savings for the training tail.’

 

Admitting that there were ‘deficiencies in sensors’ compared to the U-2, officials conceded that there were ‘niche capabilities’ that the U-2 held over Global Hawk. Conversely, they said: ‘There are things that Global Hawk does with sensors that U-2 cannot do.’ They added that official air force data unveiled in the middle of last year showed how U-2 was less expensive to operate than Global Hawk on a cost per flight basis. However, they claimed that these statistics had since been reversed. ‘There has been a change in the maturity of the system. One-time costs associated with it were assumed into the database,’ they continued while describing how the system had not completed its scheduled amount of total flying hours last year, thereby increasing operational costs per hour.

 

According to Northrop Grumman, there are daily discussions with different elements within the USAF regarding Global Hawk Block 30. ‘We are all waiting for the actual budget to drop. Our suggestions centre around how and where to save dollars.’

 

Meanwhile, company officials said they were in the midst of initial discussions with the Singapore government regarding Foreign Military Sales of the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) Global Hawk variant. Having described ‘general briefings’ with Singapore officials, a Northrop Grumman source said: ‘We chatted them up and are keeping them up to speed on BAMS. As they roll out their requirement, we will see where they stand.’

 

The first flight of the BAMS MQ-4C is scheduled to take place in the US during September with an initial operating capability due to be implemented for the US Navy by December 2015. Similarly, Northrop Grumman is keeping the Australian DoD informed of programme activity. Company officials were in Australia last week to discuss specifics with their System Design and Development partner. Elsewhere, it emerged that Northrop Grumman has responded to India’s RfI for a HALE maritime UAS.

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27 janvier 2012 5 27 /01 /janvier /2012 08:55
DoD cuts RQ-4 Blk 30, spares other UAVs

Jan 26, 2012 by Zach Rosenberg – Flight Global

Washington DC - Northrop Grumman projects advance despite a budget cut to one of the company's highest-profile programmes. The RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 will be cut, according to media reports. The aged Lockheed Martin U-2, which the Block 30 is intended to replace, will continue to fly for the foreseeable future. Fourteen Block 30s aircraft have been delivered, with the government committed to another seven aircraft. The total inventory will effectively be capped at 21 aircraft, a cut of 10 from the most recently-provided total.

"The Block 30 priced itself out of the niche for taking pictures from the air," said Ashton Carter, under secretary of defense of acquisition, technology and logistics. "That's the fate of things that become too expensive in a resource-constrained environment."

The project has twice breached the Nunn-McCurdy Act, requiring justification if a programme is more than 25% over budget, and has received mixed reviews in official evaluations.

Another variant of the troubled Global Hawk programme, the Block 40, of which the Air Force has ordered 11, will continue unabated. The Navy's MQ-4C broad area maritime surveillance (BAMS) variant, similar in configuration to the Block 30, will also continue.

The General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Predator series of systems, including the MQ-1B Predator, MQ-9A Reaper and MQ-1C Gray Eagle, were spared major changes. The DoD will continue with plans to procure 65 combat air patrols (CAP) of Reapers, with each system comprised of four aircraft a piece. The Air Force will be able to surge to 85 CAPs, though details of where the aircraft will come from were not immediately available.

Northrop released a statement saying the company was "disappointed with the Pentagon's decision, and plans to work with the Pentagon to assess alternatives to program termination."

Despite the setback, Northrop continues to advance BAMS and other programmes. The multi-function active sensor (MFAS) radar made its first flight, and there are no intentions of delaying the aircraft buy. The first aircraft is under construction, scheduled for first flight in the second quarter of 2012.

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26 décembre 2011 1 26 /12 /décembre /2011 08:20
U-2 Holds Out Against The Robots

 

 

December 24, 2011: STRATEGY PAGE

 

The U.S. Air Force has again delayed the retirement of its U-2S reconnaissance aircraft. Now the U-2 may remain in service until 2016 or later. The reason is the continued failure of the Global Hawk UAV to prove it can replace the manned U-2. Congress wants the Global Hawk to pass tests proving it can do everything the U-2 can before the U-2, which entered service 56 years ago, is retired.

 

For the last five years the U.S. Air Force has been trying to replace its manned U-2 reconnaissance aircraft with the RQ-4 Global Hawk. This has not worked out well. In addition to the problems with Global Hawks' reliability and dependability, another issue has been in the superiority of the sensors carried by the U-2. So why not just install the U-2 sensors in the Global Hawk? The problem here is weight and space. The U-2 is a larger and heavier aircraft, and even with a pilot, has more carrying capacity. Air force suppliers keep promising that they have the problem solved but after several generations of Global Hawk sensor redesigns and improvements, it will still be a few years before the Global Hawk will be competitive and the U-2 will be out of a job.

 

Then there's the UAV software, which has still not matched the capabilities of pilots. The humans still have an edge over robotic systems, especially when it comes to emergencies. But another advantage that the U-2 has is that it has been around for half a century. Its quirks and foibles are well known. The Global Hawk is not only new but is also the first of a new kind of robotic aircraft.

 

Global Hawk has crossed the Pacific, from North America to Australia, using onboard computers to run everything. While impressive, Global Hawk still has a tendency to get into trouble unexpectedly and not know how to recover. More work needs to be done on the software and, to a lesser extent, the hardware used by Global Hawk. Since no one can (or at least will) swear when Global hawk reliability will be up to acceptable standards plans are being made to keep the U-2s around for a while longer - just in case.

 

This popularity is running the U-2s ragged. Two years ago, for example, two 41 year old U-2s achieved a record 25,000 hours in the air. One of these aircraft had made three belly (landing gear up) landings, requiring extensive rebuilding after each incident.

 

With a range of over 11,000 kilometers, the 18 ton U-2s typically fly missions 12 hours long. All U-2s have been upgraded to the Block 20 standard, so they can be kept in service until the end of this decade. Or at least until the 13 ton Global Hawk is completely debugged and available in sufficient quantity to replace it. The U-2 has been in service since 1955 and only 86 were built, of which 26 remain in service. Less than 900 pilots have qualified to fly the U-2 in that time.

 

The heavy use of the U-2 has been hard on the pilots. Missions can be as long as 12 hours and pilots operate in a cockpit pressurized to conditions found at 30,000 feet. This puts more strain on the pilot's body. That, and the fact that they breathe pure oxygen while up there, means they tend to be completely exhausted after returning from a long mission. U-2s fly missions daily over the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Korea.

 

This wasn't supposed to happen. Five years ago the U.S. Air Force wanted to retire its U-2s and replace them with UAVs like Global Hawk. But Congress refused to allow it, partly for political reasons (jobs would be lost, which is always a live political issue) and because some in Congress (and the air force) did not believe that Global Hawk was ready to completely replace the U-2. This turned out to be correct. New Global Hawks continue to appear but there is so much demand for the kind of recon work the two aircraft can do that both pilots and robots will coexist for a while. But eventually the old reliable U-2 will be retired.

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19 août 2011 5 19 /08 /août /2011 05:30

http://www.flightglobal.com/assets/getAsset.aspx?ItemID=41505 

NATO AGS - photo Northrop Grumman

 

18/08/11 By Stephen Trimble SOURCE:Flight Daily News

 

Canada has become the second country to withdraw from the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 alliance ground surveillance (AGS) program, but the remaining NATO partners are "very close" to signing a contract, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

 

The decision means AGS will lose another source of funding that must be compensated for by the 13 NATO members still committed.

 

In June, Canadian TV broadcaster CBC reported that Canada also is withdrawing from the NATO partnership operating the E-3 airborne warning and control system (AWACS).

 

The AGS program had lost another key partner last June. Denmark also decided to withdraw from the partnership acquiring a six-aircraft RQ-4 fleet in June 2010.

 

Meanwhile, Northrop and NATO officials are likely to sign a contract to launch the development phase of the AGS programme within several days. The contract award may still have to be approved by each of the national partners before it becomes official.

 

Previously, Northrop officials had predicted that the long-awaited contract award milestone might not be reached around October.

 

Northrop is offering to deliver six RQ-4 air vehicles configured with the US Air Force's Block 40 equipment, which includes a wide area surveillance sensor called the Northrop/Raytheon multi-platform radar technology insertion program. It will perform the same role as the USAF E-8C joint surveillance target attack radar system.

 

European partners, including EADS, will supply mobile ground control stations for the NATO RQ-4 fleet, which will be based at Sigonella AB, Sicily.

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16 juin 2011 4 16 /06 /juin /2011 06:50
Carter Cuts 11 More Global Hawks

 

Jun 15, 2011 By Amy Butler AviationWeek.com

 

WASHINGTON - Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter has sliced 11 Block 30 Global Hawks from the planned buy of 42, further reducing the total number of the aircraft in the project only months after the U.S. Air Force cut 11 from the Block 40 program.

 

The decision is outlined in a June 14 acquisition decision memorandum that details a restructuring of the entire RQ-4A/B program; this includes all four blocks of the aircraft (10-40). Also in this document, Carter outlines his plans to certify that the Global Hawk may move forward despite its latest cost overrun, which breached the Nunn-McCurdy statute limits and triggered a massive review of the project. He states that “continuation of the program is essential to national security . . . there are no alternatives to the program,” and new cost estimates have been established to move forward.

 

An April selected-acquisition report sent to Congress that includes the Global Hawk cost overrun notes a total program tally of $13.9 billion. The Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) pegs the new price at $12.4 billion, according to Carter’s memo. Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor, with Raytheon playing a role in some sensor work.

 

Carter also directs the Air Force to break up the massive project into subprograms: one each is outlined for “Baseline,” or Block 10/20; Block 30 (with the Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suite and Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload); and Block 40, including the aircraft and the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program active, electronically scanned array ground surveillance system. A new subprogram will be established for the Ground Segment Re-Architecture and Communications Systems Re-Architecture, Carter says in his memo.

 

The intent is to more clearly account for the numerous different efforts in the Global Hawk program by breaking them out into separate line items. These different projects were the byproducts of the earlier “spiral acquisition” strategy, which called for infusing new technologies—such as sensors—into the program when they became mature. However, some in Congress have found these efforts difficult to monitor.

 

Also, this accounting approach is designed to better illuminate any shortfalls. In earlier budgets, Pentagon and industry sources say shortfalls in the spares accounts went unaddressed. They are now being funded, some say, at the sacrifice of total numbers of Block 40 aircraft.

 

Program officials appear accepting of the 11-aircraft reduction in Block 30s. These were originally slated to be attrition-reserve platforms, and one program official notes that the aircraft are lasting longer than expected thus far.

 

Also included in the acquisition decision memo is a directive from Carter that requires the Air Force to ask his permission before “obligating any funds beyond the specified amounts identified [in his memo], even on existing contracts.”

 

It is unclear how this could affect the program’s ability to be agile in responding to urgent warfighter needs. The quick integration of the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node onto two Block 20s, for example, was not originally included in the program plan. But senior Pentagon officials have praised program officials for quickly deploying the system, which is helping provide tactical communications to soldiers in Afghanistan.

 

[Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story reported different numbers for planned Global Hawks due to an error in the Defense Department’s acquisition decision memorandum. This version has been updated.]

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