The Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned air vehicle has undertaken its first international joint military exercise.
The landmark 28h flight - the first in international airspace - was not without problems. The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image quality was below standard due to a faulty SAR transmitter. The transmitter was replaced but a second mission was scrubbed due to problems with a communications satellite needed to support the sortie.
Launched from Eglin AFB, Florida, the Global Hawk flew along the US east coast, demonstrating direct downlink of radar imagery to the US Army at Fort Bragg and the US Navy's USS George Washington aircraft carrier. The RQ-4A then crossed the Atlantic, passing north of the Azores, en route to Portugal.
While over Portugal the RQ-4A acquired radar images of targets on the mainland and on the Madeira Islands that were transmitted to NATO commanders in the region to provide intelligence to support amphibious landings.
Source: Flight International
