LEIDEN, Netherlands, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- The Euro Hawk signals intelligence UAS was presented Friday to German government officials by Cassidian in a ceremony held in Manching, Germany.
The UAS, which was ferried from the United States in July, had been fitted with the Integrated Signal Intelligence System developed by Cassidian and will undergo flight testing in 2012.
Euro Hawk is the first international configuration of the RQ-4 Global Hawk High Altitude Long Endurance UAS.
Delivery of the first Euro Hawk system to the German Air Force and its Strategic Intelligence Command is scheduled for 2012, with delivery of the following four systems foreseen between 2015 and 2016.
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"The rollout ceremony of the Euro Hawk marks a significant step for the German customer in its acquisition of a leading-edge SIGINT capability," said Stefan Zoller, chief executive officer of Cassidian. "Euro Hawk is an excellent example for the transatlantic cooperation in the defense area, and for the close relationship with our customer."
Gary Ervin, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems, said, "We are a step closer to delivering the first Euro Hawk to the German Armed Forces. In times of tight budgets, multinational joint developments like this offer great value to nations and provide effective support for troops in the field."
The German Ministry of Defense awarded a contract in January 2007 to EuroHawk GmbH for the development, test and support of the Full-Scale Demonstrator Euro Hawk system. Under this contract, EuroHawk GmbH will provide the SIGINT air vehicles, the complete aircraft and ISIS Mission Ground Segments as well as the aircraft modifications requested for the German needs, flight test and logistics support.
EuroHawk GmbH, a 50-50 joint venture of Northrop Grumman and Cassidian, is responsible for the development and manufacturing of Euro Hawk systems and acts as the national prime contractor for the German MOD through the system's entire lifecycle.
Cassidian is a member of the EADS Group.
