Northrop Grumman and EADS subsidiary Cassidian conducted the first successful test flight of the Euro Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS).
The six-hour test flight occurred over Germany’s Manching Air Base, and allowed the two companies to test the aircraft’s signals intelligence advanced sensors for detection of radar and communication emitters (SIGINT). The Euro Hawk, with a wingspan larger than most commercial aircraft, is a prototype of Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4B Global Hawk UAS, Northrop Grumman said.
The Euro Hawk was first delivered to Germany’s Bundeswehr in July 2011, and has the capability to detect electronic and communications emitters.
“Euro Hawk represents many significant firsts for Northrop Grumman. Not only is it our first trans-Atlantic cooperation with Germany and Cassidian, but it is also the first international version of the RQ-4 Global Hawk produced by the company and the first high-altitude, long-endurance [HALE] SIGINT UAS in Europe,” said Tom Vice, president of Northrop Grumman’s aerospace systems division. More
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