Скачать или смотреть Global Hawk Drone RQ-4 Northrop Grumman

The EURO HAWK®, developed and built for the German Ministry of Defence, is the first international derivative of the combat-proven, high-flying RQ-4 Global Hawk HALE UAS. It is also Northrop Grumman's first trans-Atlantic cooperation with Germany and EADS Deutschland GmbH, operating through Cassidian, the defence and security division of EADS.

Based on the Block 20 configuration, EURO HAWK7reg; will be equipped with a new signals intelligence (SIGINT) mission system developed by Cassidian, providing standoff capability to detect electronic intelligence (ELINT) and communications intelligence (COMINT) emitters.

A ground station consisting of a mission control and launch and recovery elements will be provided by Northrop Grumman. Cassidian will provide a SIGINT ground station, which will receive and analyze the data from EURO HAWK® as part of an integrated system solution.

With a wingspan larger than a commercial airliner, endurance of more than 30 hours and a maximum altitude of more than 60,000 feet, EURO HAWK® is an interoperable, modular and cost-effective replacement to the aging fleet of manned Breguet Atlantic aircraft, which have been in service since 1972 and will be retired in 2010.

It is technically possible to control more than one Eurohawk from a single ground control station, as long as satellite bandwidth is sufficient. That will be a challenge for most militaries in the coming years -- the USA included.

Northrop Grumman and EADS have established a 50-50 joint venture company in order to pursue this program. EuroHawk GmbH is based in Friedrichshafen, Germany, and acts as the national prime contractor for the German Ministry of Defence. Northrop Grumman and EADS initiated their transatlantic cooperation in August 2000, followed by a bilateral project agreement between the U.S. Air Force and the German Ministry of Defence signed in October 2001. The first phase of the project included the operation of the HALE UAV concept, the mission system integration, and the October 2003 flight demonstration program at the German Naval Base in Nordholz.