The entire modernization effort is expected to take a decade, with an estimated completion year of 2030.
Here s What You Need to Know: The Global Hawk’s global reach is increasing.
Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk is one of, if not the world’s premier surveillance and reconnaissance unmanned aircraft system and the Air Force’s go-to eye in the sky and it is slated for an upgrade.
Hidden in a laundry list of award notices, a recent Pentagon contract award notice outlined what a $4.8 billion, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity award would broadly cover virtually all aspects of Global Hawk “development, modernization, retrofit and sustainment activities” for the entire Air Force Global Hawk fleet.
Remain Well Clear - Drone Integration Into European Airspace
Royal NLR and ISD are performing a multi-year study for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) to develop the procedures needed to safely and efficiently integrate Medium Altitude, Long Endurance (MALE) Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) into European airspace. The partnership has recently completed a large-scale simulation experiment to test the application of a GA-ASI Detect and Avoid System in the European context.
The long-term goal of the partnership between the Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR), Information Systems Delft (ISD) and GA-ASI is to develop the procedures needed to integrate MALE RPAS with civilian traffic in European airspace. For the purposes of this research, the MQ-9B SkyGuardian, designed and manufactured by GA-ASI, is used as an example case study. Enabling MALE RPAS to operate on a file-and-fly basis just like airliners would unlock numerous civilian applications of these new ai