Global Hawk UAV makes first flight with multiple sensor package

Posted by John McHaleEDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., 9 July 2011. Northrop Grumman Corp.'s (NYSE:NOC) latest RQ-4 Global Hawkunmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) completed its first production acceptance flight with multiple sensors operating simultaneously from a single platform as part of the operational Block 30 multi-intelligence sensor package..The multi-intelligence sensor package has an airborne signals intelligence payload (ASIP) from by Northrop Grumman, as well as an electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that are part of the Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suite (EISS) from Raytheon. The ASIP system includes electronics and communications collection capability.There are nine Block 30 Global Hawks located at forward operating locations. Eventually, those UAVs will rotate through the Palmdale location to have the ASIP sensor added to their current EISS-only Block 30 configuration, made easier as the Block 30s are already configured to accept ASIP.