FAA authorizes Global Hawk flights

  • Published
  • By Sue Baker
  • Aeronautical Systems Center Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFPN) --  Federal Aviation Administration officials granted the Air Force's Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle a national Certificate of Authorization on Aug. 21.

By doing this, the FAA helped the high-altitude, long-endurance reconnaissance aircraft take a major step toward routine flight in U.S. airspace.

The certificate allows the Air Force to shorten normal processing and approval time for Global Hawk flights from approximately 60 days to as few as five days. This is a "first" for any UAV system, said Col. Scott Coale, Global Hawk program director at the reconnaissance systems program office here. It also allows the UAV to cross various FAA regions more easily during training and military exercises.

"In the past, we had to work with each of the individual FAA regions to conduct a mission in U.S.-controlled airspace," Coale said. "Now that's all been streamlined by the national (certificate) to be closer to what we need to conduct routine Global Hawk operations. The timing is great for us, because we're about to deliver our first production hardware to Beale Air Force Base, Calif., our main operating base, later this year."

FAA officials have been very supportive of the increasing need for UAV access to airspace, according to Coale.

"While this (certificate) includes provisions and limitations to preserve the safety and integrity of national airspace, we'll continue to work with the FAA as Global Hawk's capabilities evolve,” Coale said.

"We have a requirement for Global Hawk to operate in all classes of airspace," Coale said. "Ultimately, we want Global Hawk to operate like a manned (aircraft), where we just file a flight plan and off we go."

Before that can happen, Global Hawk must demonstrate a level of safety equivalent to a manned aircraft, the colonel said, a process expected to take several years.

"First, we need to identify the right 'see and avoid' technology … then develop that technology enough to guarantee a specified level of safety," Coale said. "In this regard, Global Hawk is now serving as a 'pathfinder,' charting new territory for itself and other current and future unmanned systems."

Global Hawk has flown more than 3,000 hours since its first flight in February 1998. More than half that time has been supporting operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.