Global Hawk Flying High

Palmdale Ca, Plant 42 AFB Production Facility  Rollout ceremony, of the new Global Hawk allowing for real time surveillance and intelligence from more then
60,000 feet and virtually undetectable from the ground. The new era of
unmanned flight is here.
Ever since the beginning of world conflict man has been inventing ways and
means to gather information and this has now evolved to the pinnacle of
that evolution. The U-2 spy plane famous for Francis Gary Powers going down
over Russia led to the SR-71 Mach 3 Blackbird spy plane that was able to
actually outrun surface to air missile’s later giving way to Spy
Satellites. Each system has its flaws and cost’s and limitations. Pilot
endurance and safety for long missions is a major reason that Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s ) have come of age. The radar system now with the
advent of electro-optical, Infrared, and synthetetic aperture radar
resources un-heard of 30 years ago has led to superior image resolution
from 16 nautical miles of very fine details to make intelligent decisions
and not risk a pilot at the same time. UAV’s can be remotely piloted in a
safe area thousands of miles from any hostile threat and the “pilots” can
be on short shifts of 4 hrs. Unlike Spy satellites the Global hawk can be
called into action exactly where it is needed and not wait for a window of
orbit or unlike aircraft of the past hold your breath for aircrews to get
back from the mission to divulge the information package which could lead
to many hours or days before realizing real time info. Not a small
aircraft, it has a wingspan of 130 feet and Gross take off weight of 32,500
lbs. The Block 40 Global Hawk will provide a revolutionary, ground
surveillance capability with its advanced, all-weather MP-RTIP radar
technology sensor. Designated AF-18, the first Block 40 aircraft is the
27th Global Hawk built since the program's inception in 1995.

A total of 15 Block 40 aircraft are scheduled for production, with the
first aircraft for Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, in 2010. The
Global Hawk was first deployed right after 9/11 while still in the test
stage and have flown more than 31,000 hours thus far. Flying at altitudes
of more than 60,000 feet for more than 32 hours at speeds approaching 340
knots, Global Hawk can see through any type of weather, day or night. It is
the high-altitude, long-endurance platform with a wide variety of sensors,
for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance for peace time or war.

Source: Northrop Grumman Corporation June 25th 2009