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20 June 2003
Northrop Grumman 's Integrated Systems sector and EADS said that the US Air Force and German Ministry of Defense (MoD) are moving ahead with plans for a demonstration of an EADS-designed electronic intelligence (ELINT) sensor onboard the Northrop Grumman-produced RQ-4A Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) this Autumn.
The demonstration is a significant step in the evaluation of an unmanned solution for Germany's wide area surveillance requirements. It could lead to a possible, future development of a German-owned and operated Global Hawk derivative, the Euro Hawk.
The air vehicle is expected to depart for Germany in October. During its deployment, Global Hawk will fly up to four ELINT missions in pre-coordinated airspace in Germany above the North Sea.
The German MoD and the US Air Force are conducting two initial flight tests this summer at Edwards Air Force Base, in California, to prepare for the demonstration. The Air Force will conduct the first test, called a functional check out, without the payload aboard to test air vehicle performance. The second flight will test system operations with the ELINT payload.
The Air Force flew two successful test flights last year on 17 and 22 November to confirm sensor compatibility with Global Hawk. During the missions, the sensor was able, for the first time, to detect radar transmissions from emitters located at the Naval Air Warfare Center, in China Lake, California
The transmissions were sent through a line-of-sight communications link to a temporary German ground support station located at the Air Force flight test centre at Edwards Air Force Base. The sensor was manufactured by EADS, headquartered in Friedrichshafen/Ulm, Germany, and integrated by Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems' Unmanned Systems unit in San Diego, California.
If developed, Euro Hawk would replace the ageing Breguet Atlantic SIGINT aircraft, a manned system that currently flies German signals intelligence missions.
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