First landing of Northrop Grumman “Global Hawk” Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in Germany for testing of EADS sensors
Intelligent reconnaissance system is testament to transatlantic cooperation
Friedrichshafen/Nordholz, 15 October 2003
The first landing of the Northrop Grumman “Global Hawk” high-altitude long endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in Germany is a further milestone in transatlantic cooperation of EADS and Northrop Grumman.
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As reported by both companies on Wednesday, the US Air Force (USAF) “Global Hawk” aircraft (RQ-4A) safely landed at the German Navy’s Nordholz Air Base (near Cuxhaven) early in the morning of the 15th of October, 2003 after taking off from Edwards Airforce Base (California) and crossing the USA and the Atlantic Ocean.
During the four-week deployment, up to five technical flight tests are to be conducted from Nordholz with an ELINT (Electronic Intelligence) reconnaissance sensor on board. The aim of this project dubbed “EuroHawk” is, on one hand, to show that ELINT tasks, which are traditionally carried out by manned aircraft can be successfully conducted using a high altitude long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (HALE UAV) and, on the other, to introduce flight operations by a HALE UAV into European controlled airspace.
The transatlantic “EuroHawk” project was started as an industrial initiative in July 2000 between EADS and Northrop Grumman and approved by the U.S. and German Ministries of Defence who signed a bilateral Project Agreement in October 2001. This includes operation of the HALE aircraft concept, sensor integration and the flight demonstration program. For the demonstration of the ELINT sensor, which in the demo configuration has been developed by EADS using their own resources, is being tested and integrated into the USAF Global Hawk, built by Northrop Grumman. Following successful test flights in the USA, the sensor will for the first time have its effectiveness on board a UAV placed under scrutiny in German air space, during several demonstration flights to be conducted from Nordholz.
With revenues amounting to €30 billion (2002) and more than 100,000 employees, EADS is the largest aerospace and defense company in Europe and number two worldwide. EADS business comprises a wide experience on system integration for Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR) systems, general command, control and communications, commercial and military aircraft, helicopters, commercial launch vehicles, missile systems as well as satellites.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a $25 billion global defense company, headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. The company provides technologically advanced, innovative products, services and solutions in systems integration, defense electronics, information technology, advanced aircraft, shipbuilding and space technology. It also serves a wide variety of U.S. and international military, government and commercial customers with approximately 120,000 employees and operations in all 50 states and 25 countries.
Contact persons
EADS:
Lothar Belz
Tel. (0731) 392-3681
E-Mail: lothar.belz@sysde.eads.net
Northrop Grumman:
Cynthia Curiel
Tel. +1 (858) 618-4355
E-Mail: cynthia.curiel@ngc.com
