Global Hawk completes first flight

Global Hawk completes first flight

Released: Mar 2, 1998
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFNS) -- Global Hawk, the Department of Defense's newest reconnaissance aircraft, successfully flew for the first time at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Feb. 28.
Global Hawk air vehicle number one, a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned air vehicle, took off from the Edwards' main runway at 7:43 a.m. PST and flew for 56 minutes. The UAV reached altitudes up to 32,000 feet before landing on the base's main runway.
With a 116-foot wingspan, Global Hawk navigated along a "bow tie" track within restricted air space. The entire mission, including the take-off and landing, was performed autonomously by the aircraft based on its mission plan. The Launch and Recovery Element of the system's ground segment continuously monitored the status of the flight.
The flight was the first of numerous airworthiness evaluation and payload demonstration flights planned. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is developing Global Hawk to provide military field commanders with a high-altitude, long-endurance system that can obtain high-resolution, near-real-time imagery of large geographic areas.
"Today's flight was an exceptional accomplishment for the Global Hawk team. This is a key milestone toward giving warfighters a powerful new capability," said DARPA's program manager Air Force Col. Doug Carlson. "Not only did Global Hawk perform beautifully, but the successful flight demonstrated how government, military and contractor personnel can work together on a challenging development program. I am especially pleased with the excellent support we have received from the Edwards Air Force Base team, and I look forward to working with them as the program proceeds."
The new aircraft has been designed to operate with a range of 13,500 nautical miles, at altitudes up to 65,000 feet and with an endurance of 40 hours. During a typical reconnaissance mission, the aircraft can fly 3,000 miles to an area of interest, remain on station for 24 hours, survey an area the size of the state of Illinois (40,000 square nautical miles), and then return 3,000 miles to its operating base.
During a typical mission, a synthetic aperture radar/moving target indicator and electro-optical and infrared sensors onboard the aircraft can provide near-real-time imagery of the area of interest to the battlefield commander via worldwide satellite communication links and the system's ground segment.
Global Hawk air vehicle No. 1 has been located at Edwards AFB since August. Air vehicle No. 2, which is nearing completion, will be flown primarily to validate the performance of the system's sensors and communication systems; its testing will begin at Edwards later this year.