Euro Hawk passes first test

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PALMDALE, Calif., July 2 (UPI) -- An international configuration of Northrop Grumman's RQ-4 Global Hawk successfully completed its first flight test, the company said Thursday.

Testing was conducted over Palmdale, Calif., from a Northrop Grumman manufacturing facility and lasted nearly two hours.

"The Euro Hawk marks the first international configuration of the RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance UAS (Unmanned Aerial System), and strengthens Northrop Grumman's trans-Atlantic cooperation with Germany and EADS Defense and Security," said Duke Dufresne, sector vice president for Northrop's Strike and Surveillance Systems Division.

Euro Hawk is based on the Block 20 Global Hawk. It will be equipped with a new signals intelligence system developed by EADS to detect electronic and communications emitters.

As part of the project for the German Ministry of Defense, Northrop Grumman will provide a ground control ground station for the aircraft – complete with mission control, launch and recovery units – while EADS will provide a signals station to receive and analyze data from the aircraft.

Euro Hawk is envisioned as the interoperable and cost-effective replacement for the aging fleet of manned Breguet Atlantic aircraft used by Germany and scheduled for retirement this year.