Euro Hawk makes first flight

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From Jane's

Euro Hawk UAV makes first flight

By Gareth Jennings

08 July 2010

The Northrop Grumman/EADS RQ-4E Euro Hawk high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) signals intelligence (SIGINT) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) made its maiden flight from Palmdale, California, on 29 June.

The flight, which lasted approximately two hours, began at Northrop Grumman's Palmdale manufacturing facility and concluded at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), California, some 36 km away. The aircraft flew to an altitude of 32,000 ft.

James Kohn, Euro Hawk programme manager, told Jane's that, with the ground trials having already been successfully concluded, one of the final issues that needed to be resolved before the first flight could be made was that of obtaining diplomatic clearance for the German government-owned aircraft to operate in US airspace.

Markus Heller, senior manager for Euro Hawk ISIS Military Air Systems at EADS, said that for the first flight the aircraft was fitted with mock-ups of the aircraft's SIGINT mission systems - ISIS stands for Integrated SIGINT System - and radomes. However, he stressed that these "are not just ballast" but mission-representative harnesses and connections.

Based on the Block 20 Global Hawk, the Euro Hawk will be equipped with a new SIGINT mission system developed by EADS Defence and Security (D&S), providing standoff capability to detect electronic and communications emitters. A ground station, comprising mission control and launch and recovery elements, will be provided by Northrop Grumman. EADS will also provide a SIGINT ground station, which will receive and analyse the data from the Euro Hawk as part of an integrated system solution.

The German Ministry of Defence (MoD) awarded a contract in January 2007 to EuroHawk GmbH for the development, test and support of the Euro Hawk SIGINT surveillance and reconnaissance system. Under this contract, EuroHawk GmbH will also provide aircraft modifications, mission control and launch and recovery ground segments, flight-test and logistics support. Formed as a 50-50 joint venture company by Northrop Grumman and EADS D&S, EuroHawk GmbH acts as the national prime contractor for the German MoD throughout the lifecycle of the Euro Hawk system.

With a 35 m wingspan, endurance of 30 hours and a maximum altitude of more than 60,000 ft, the Euro Hawk is billed by Northrop Grumman as a cost-effective replacement for Germany's ageing fleet of manned Breguet Atlantic maritime patrol aircraft, which have been in service since 1972 and are due to be retired later this year.

Subsequent Euro Hawk systems are anticipated for delivery between 2016 and 2017 following successful testing and introduction in German operational service. German Air Force pilots and ground crews are currently training on a US Air Force (USAF) Block 20 Global Hawk at Beale AFB in California before transitioning to what Northrop Grumman terms 'Delta training' on the Euro Hawk.

With this successful first flight under its belt, Northrop Grumman and EADS plan a series of flights at Edwards AFB to expand the aircraft's flight envelope. The aircraft will then be ferried to Germany in March 2011. The German Air Force intends to operate five Euro Hawks out of Schleswig-Jage Air Base, near the country's Baltic coast.