Global Hawk arrives in Germany

  • Published
  • By Sue Baker
  • Aeronautical Systems Center Public Affairs
NORDHOLZ, Germany (AFPN) --  The Air Force’s Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle landed in Germany for the first time Oct. 15 from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. It touched down at 4:05 a.m. at the German navy’s Nordholz Air Base near Cuxhaven.

Its arrival marked the beginning of a three-week system deployment running through Nov. 6. The deployment involves up to five technical missions by Air Force and German Ministry of Defense program officials to flight-test a German electronic intelligence sensor.

The trans-Atlantic, cooperative demonstration culminates a two-year effort by the German MOD and Air Force to demonstrate interoperability between U.S. and German UAV systems.

“This demonstration will show how the … high-altitude, long-endurance UAV could be used effectively to conduct German … operations, now handled by conventional, manned platforms,” said Col. Scott Coale, Global Hawk program director. He is from the Aeronautical Systems Center’s reconnaissance systems program office at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The office develops and acquires the system for the Air Force.

The team developed and integrated the German electronic intelligence payload on Global Hawk during a series of flight tests this year at Edwards AFB, Coale said. In preparation for the deployment, the team exchanged U.S. and German flight certification information.

During the test flights, Global Hawk will be equipped with a German sensor. It will fly preprogrammed, autonomous missions in precoordinated, German airspace over the North Sea.

“The sensor will detect and identify electromagnetic signals from several sources, transmitting them to a German ground station,” Coale said.

Program officials said they will assess how well Global Hawk might serve German requirements in the future.