Jane Edwards
Northrop Grumman has received component parts from Korea Jig and Fixture and Firstec for integration with South Korea’s RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial system.
Northrop said Thursday it received deliveries of KJF-built aerospace-grade machine parts after Firstec handed the wire harnesses designed to transmit electrical signals for the UAS early this year.
Firstec and KJF started producing the drone’s component parts in October 2015.
Northrop will work to integrate the components with four Global Hawks that South Korea procured through a foreign military sales agreement with the U.S. government in December 2014.
Northrop has begun production work on the first drone at its facility in Mississippi and will perform the final assembly process in California.
Global Hawk is designed to fly at a maximum altitude of 60,000 feet for at least 30 hours and works to support disaster relief, humanitarian assistance, counterterrorism, scientific research, surveillance and military operations.
