Contest begins to replace the German air force's maritime surveillance aircraft with an unmanned air vehicle
EADS has unveiled proposals for a maritime surveillance variant of the Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk UAV. The Euro Hawk could replace German air force manned maritime surveillance aircraft.
The maritime version would carry a new-generation EADS- developed rotating phased-array radar that could be developed within two years if the project is backed by the German government. The development would be separate from the maritime-surveillance variant of the Global Hawk being proposed by Northrop Grumman for the US Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) requirement.
EADS is also at an advanced stage of conceptual work on an imagery intelligence (IMINT) version of the RQ-4B Euro Hawk for a possible second-phase German air force purchase later this decade. The variant would carry a lightweight version of the European/US SOSTAR-Transatlantic Cooperative AGS Radar surveillance radar and EADS electro-optic sensors.
The IMINT variant would have close parallels to the planned NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system RQ-4B "NATO Hawk" configurations, but would be distinct from the US Air Force IMINT Global Hawk system, which is fitted with a Raytheon sensor suite.
The two EADS concepts are being pitched at the German air force as a follow-on to its signals intelligence Euro Hawk acquisition. The BWB procurement agency is planning to release a tender to Northrop Grumman and EADS for that requirement by mid-June if initial German parliamentary funding approvals are secured in the coming weeks. Final acquisition approvals for the c3 billion ($3.57 billion) requirement, including a second round of parliamentary approvals, are expected late this year.
The Euro Hawk is baselined on the production RQ-4B airframe but, unlike Global Hawk, will not support any IMINT capability in its basic configuration. According to Chris Hernandez, vice-president Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems, the German air force Euro Hawk air vehicles will remain baselined on US Air Force RQ-4Bs throughout their life.
Meanwhile, Northrop Grumman has released new details of the RQ-4B configuration, including plans to widen the main landing-gear footprint. The main gear on the RQ-4A and early-production RQ-4B retracts into the fuselage. The revised arrangement will see the gear relocated into two large underwing fairings. The change will apply to all series production RQ-4Bs from air vehicle five.
Source: Flight International
