Mary-Louise Hoffman
Andrew Tyler, CEO of Northrop Grumman‘s businesses in the U.K. and Europe, said that three European nations are interested in buying Global Hawk surveillance drones from the company, Reuters reported Wednesday.
“At the moment I would say that the hottest three (potential European buyers) are Germany, U.K. and Norway, in the sense that we’ve got active dialogue going on with those countries,” Tyler told reporters Wednesday.
Sarah Young reports that Tyler also expects a $1.7 billion NATO order of five Global Hawks and related equipment to boost the company’s unmanned aircraft sales in Europe.
The unmanned aerial vehicle is built to fly as high as 60,000 feet and is equipped with technology for gathering data and imagery.
Young writes the U.S. Air Force has used the UAV to support military operations in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq.
Tyler told Reuters the company also wants to offer the U.K. its Triton platform — a maritime version of the Global Hawk — which he believes could help the nation to monitor its territorial waters.
He expects the U.K. government to launch an industry competition for maritime patrol aircraft in the coming years, according to Reuters.
