US Navy testing of the RQ-4AGlobal Hawk unmanned air vehicle moved a step closer earlier this month, when the service's first of two demonstrators left Northrop Grumman's manufacturing site at Palmdale, California on a 4h first flight. The navy is to test the high-altitude long-endurance UAV during maritime surveillance missions from NAS Patuxent River from mid-2005.
Source: Flight International
Northrop Grumman continues to chase international sales opportunities for its E-2D Advanced Hawkeye and MQ-4C Triton maritime surveillance aircraft, as it simultaneously introduces upgrades to both platforms.
Amid steady demand for existing propulsion systems, the defence unit of GE Aerospace is targeting development efforts on a series of next-generation technologies, including high-powered adaptive engines and small, low-cost solutions for uncrewed fighter jets.
Northrop Grumman has built the experimental XRQ-73 hybrid-electric flying-wing that it has been developing under a secretive US military project.
