Ross Wilkers
Northrop Grumman and an EADS subsidiary are working together to develop a new unmanned aerial vehicle that Northrop says is based on its Global Hawk drone.
The company said the EuroHawk drone flew its first test flight Friday for six hours and reached a maximum 54,000-foot altitude.
EuroHawks contain signals intelligence sensors, built by EADS’ Cassidian subsidiary and designed to detect radar and communication systems.
The system also comes with a Northrop-made ground control station for mission control, launch and recovery.
Tom Vice, corporate vice president and president of Northrop’s aerospace systems sector, said this program is the company’s first trans-Atlantic partnership with Cassidian and Germany.
“It is also the first international version of the RQ-4 Global Hawk produced by the company,” he said.
Neset Tukenmez, CEO for the EuroHawk program, said Germany wants to use the drone for surveillance and reconnaissance.
Northrop says the team is building the EuroHawk to fly for up to 30 hours and an altitude of up to 60,000 feet.
