EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Feb. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. defense firm Northrop Gumman said Germany has launched the last phase of development of a high-endurance UAV to gather military intelligence.
Germany's Ministry of Defence awarded a 430 million euro ($559 million) contract to German-U.S. joint venture EuroHawk GmbH for the development and testing of the UAV of the same name.
"With Euro Hawk, the German air force will be able to cover its own future reconnaissance requirement ... thus enabling the German Air Force to assume control of its intelligence activities," Stefan Zoller, member of the EADS Executive Committee for Defence & Security Systems, said in a statement issued by Northrop.
EADS is a partner in the EuroHawk venture with Northrop Grumman, which jointly developed the HALE (high-altitude, long endurance) signals intelligence component of the unamnned aeriel vehicles's eventual payload reconnaissance, surveillance and intelligence-gathering gear.
Northrop described the EuroHawk as a derivative of its RQ-4 Block 20 Global Hawk UAV, which is flown by the U.S. Air Force. It is slated to begin replacing Germany's Breguet Atlantic aircraft in 2010.
The aircraft has a wingspan comparable to a commercial airliner and can remain aloft up to 30 hours. It has been undergoing various phases of testing since 2003 and was used to demonstrate the ability of a remote-controlled UAV to sensors to detect enemy radar and other electronic signals.
