Northrop Grumman hangs on for decision on whether to reschedule German deployment
Northrop Grumman is hoping for US Air Force final approval to reschedule to October the cancelled deployment and demonstration in Germany of the RQ-4A Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle. It has made the high-altitude long-endurance UAV part of the Transatlantic Industrial Proposed Solution's (TIPS) mixed-fleet proposal for the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) requirement.
In March, the USAF cancelled a planned demonstration in Germany because of the military build-up to war with Iraq, although some observers have suggested Berlin's opposition to US policy was a factor. With the war over, there is a tentative agreement to reschedule the deployment to Germany's Nordholz airbase for October, although final approval from the USAF was still pending in May.
Northrop Grumman is planning seven flights - two transit flights across the North Atlantic and five in-country. Preparatory work will begin in August at Edwards AFB, California, using the first Global Hawk to flight test a proposed EADS electronic intelligence (ELINT) payload. Germany is considering the UAV, also equipped with an infrared/electro-optical sensor and possibly a synthetic aperture radar, as a replacement for the navy's four Dassault Atlantic signals intelligence aircraft by 2008, with a funding decision expected next year.
Germany's ELINT requirement forms part of a push by Northrop Grumman to sell the proposed EuroHawk version of the RQ-4A to NATO. The UAV has been made part of the Northrop Grumman-led TIPS consortium's AGS proposal as an unmanned adjunct to an Airbus A321 platform. Both would be equipped with different versions of the Transatlantic Cooperative AGS Radar, which is a melding of the USAF's Northrop Grumman/Raytheon in-development Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Programme and Europe's Stand-off Surveillance and Target Acquisition Radar (SOSTAR) demonstrator.
As well Northrop Grumman, TIPS includes EADS, Galileo Avionica and recent newcomer Thales. SOSTAR encompasses EADS Dornier, Fokker Space, Galileo, Indra and Thales.
Raytheon is proposing a variant of the Bombardier Global Express-based Airborne Stand-off Radar System, but it is unclear what its adjunct UAV offering will be.
Source: Flight International
