As Germany digests the results from last month's series of test flights by the Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk, the team behind the unmanned air vehicle (UAV) is now looking towards a series of maritime surveillance flights for the US Coast Guard.
Three or four sorties are scheduled for the middle of next year around Florida and the Gulf of Mexico as part of a congressionally-mandated demonstration.
The demonstration is to look at the possibility of taking over flights currently conducted by Lockheed Martin P-3 Orions.
Whether the recent news that P-3 fleet numbers are likely to be affected by unexpectedly heavy fatigue problems will improve Global Hawk's chances of taking on some of the fleet's missions remains uncertain.
"If we were to use Global Hawk, we would certainly help preserve the flying hours of the remaining P-3 assets," Avis Anderson, manager, Global Hawk deployment and demonstrations, said at the show yesterday.
Another possible use for the high-altitude, long-endurance UAV is tracking forest fires, which have affected California particularly badly this year, says James Kohn, from the Global Hawk programme office responsible for site operating locations.
"With that bird's eye view the aircraft gives you, and the fact that it can stay in the air for 24h, it would be a good role for it."
The six flights from the German navy's Nordholz base "went very well", says Kohn.
Speaking at the show yesterday he said the flights, which involved fitting a German electronic ELINT package to track ground-, air- and sea-based emitters around the North Sea, typically lasted more than 9h, eight of which were on-station.
The German navy is seeking replacements for its four ageing Dassault Atlantic signals intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft.
Source: Flight Daily News
