Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) was awarded a $302.9 million fixed price incentive fee contract for five RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), by the U.S. Air Force. Earlier, the U.S. Air Force granted RQ-4 Global HALE with a military Airworthiness Certification (AWC), a significant milestone in the life of the aircraft system and a step on the path to routine unmanned flight within the United States.

Under the Lot 7 production contract, the company will build two Block 30 systems and three Block 40 systems for the Aeronautical Systems Group at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. The award also includes a ground station consisting of a launch and recovery element and a mission control element, plus two additional sensor suites that will be retrofitted into previous production aircraft. The contract runs through 2011.

The company will deliver in 2010 the two Block 30 aircraft equipped with the Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suite (EISS) that provides electro-optical/infrared and synthetic aperture radar imaging capabilities. These aircraft will also be retrofitted to incorporate the production Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload.

The HALE UAS, Global Hawk can soar at altitudes of more than 60,000 feet for more than 32 hours and send near-real-time reconnaissance imagery and signals intelligence data to air, ground, and sea forces. It can fly three times as long and operates at a fraction of the cost per flight hour of its manned counterpart. Compared to other similar UAS, a single Global Hawk collects the same information as 18 smaller medium-altitude UAS.

Global Hawks are currently flown in four locations across the globe: Beale Air Force Base in Northern California, Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California, Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, and a forward operating location in support of Overseas Contingency Operations in the Persian Gulf.

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