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Global Hawk
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 - Anuradha Menon
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The Global Hawk is a robotic plane that can fly autonomously to altitudes above 60,000 feet -- twice as high as a commercial airliner -- and as far as 11,000 nautical miles -- half the circumference of Earth. Operators pre-program a flight path, and then the plane flies itself for as long as 30 hours, staying in contact through satellite and line-of-sight communications to the ground control station at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California's Mojave Desert.
The Tier II Plus air vehicle will be capable of standoff, sustained high altitude surveillance and reconnaissance. It will operate at ranges up to 3000 nautical miles from its launch area, with loiter capability over the target area of up to 24 hours at altitudes greater than 60,000 feet. It will be capable of simultaneously carrying electro-optical (EO), infra-red (IR), and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) payloads, and will be capable of both wideband satellite and Line-Of-Sight (LOS) data link communications. During the development phase, scheduled to conclude 1QFY98, two vehicles, two sets of payloads, and a ground control station will be procured and field tested. Global Hawk's first flight was from Edwards Air Force Base, CA on 28 February 1998.
(Source: NASA/Tony Landis/ FAS)
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