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RQ-4 Global Hawk Mission
The RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance, remotely piloted aircraft with an integrated sensor suite that provides global all-weather, day or night intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability. Global Hawk's mission is to provide a broad spectrum of ISR collection capability to support joint combatant forces in worldwide peacetime, contingency and wartime operations. The Global Hawk provides persistent near-real-time coverage using imagery intelligence (IMINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT) and moving target indicator (MTI) sensors.
Features Global Hawk is currently fielded in three distinct blocks. Seven Block 10 aircraft were procured, but were retired from the Air Force inventory in 2011. Block 20s were initially fielded with IMINT-only capabilities, but three Block 20s have been converted to an EQ-4 communication relay configuration, carrying the Battlefield Airborne Communication Node (BACN) payload. Block 30 is a multi-intelligence platform that simultaneously carries electro-optical, infrared, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and high and low band SIGINT sensors. Block 30 Initial Operating Capability (IOC) was declared in August 2011. Eighteen Block 30s are currently fielded, supporting every geographic combatant command as well as combat missions in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom/ New Dawn. Block 30s also supported Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya and humanitarian relief efforts during Operation Tomodachi in Japan. Block 40 carries the Radar Technology Insertion Program (RTIP) active electronically scanned array radar which provides MTI and SAR data. Block 40 Early Operating Capability (EOC) was declared in Sep 2013 and eleven Block 40s are currently fielded, supporting operations in four combatant commands. IOC is projected in 2015.
Global Hawk is flown by a Launch and Recovery Element (LRE) and a Mission Control Element (MCE). The LRE is located at the aircraft base and functions to launch and recover the aircraft while en route to and from the target area. The MCE controls the Global Hawk for the bulk of the ISR mission. Like the LRE, the MCE is manned by one pilot, but adds a sensor operator to the crew. Command and control data links enable complete dynamic control of the aircraft. The pilot workstations in the MCE and LRE are the control and display interface (cockpit) providing aircraft health and status, sensors status and a means to alter the navigational track of the aircraft. From this station, the pilot also communicates with outside entities to coordinate the mission (air traffic control, airborne controllers, ground controllers, other ISR assets).
The sensor operator workstation provides capability to task the sensor, dynamically update the collection plan in real time, initiate sensor calibration and monitor sensor status. The sensor operator also assists the exploitation node with image quality control, target deck prioritization and scene tracking to ensure fluid operations.
The system offers a wide variety of employment options. The unmatched range and 30+ hour endurance allow tremendous flexibility in meeting mission requirements. In 2014, an RQ-4 Block 40 flew a 34.3 hour flight, setting the endurance record for longest unrefueled flight by a U.S. Air Force aircraft.
Background
Global Hawk began as an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration in 1995. The system was determined to have military utility and provide warfighters with an evolutionary high-altitude, long-endurance ISR capability. The Global Hawk has been deployed operationally to support overseas contingency operations since November 2001.
In the RQ-4 name, the "R" is the Department of Defense designation for reconnaissance and "Q" means unmanned aircraft system. The "4" refers to the series of purpose-built remotely piloted aircraft systems. The "E" in EQ-4 delineates the communication configuration of the BACN equipped aircraft.
The Global Hawk is operated by the 12th Reconnaissance Squadron at Beale Air Force Base, California, and the 348th Reconnaissance Squadron at Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota, but aircraft are rotated to operational detachments worldwide. The 1st RS at Beale AFB provides formal training for all RQ-4 pilots and Block 30 sensor operators, while the 348 RS formal training unit (FTU) at Grand Forks AFB provides training for all Block 40 sensor operators.
General Characteristics
Primary function: high-altitude, long-endurance ISR
Contractor: Northrop Grumman (Prime), Raytheon, L3 Comm
Power Plant: Rolls Royce-North American F137-RR-100 turbofan engine
Thrust: 7,600 pounds
Wingspan: 130.9 feet (39.8 meters)
Length: 47.6 feet (14.5 meters)
Height: 15.3 feet (4.7 meters)
Weight: 14,950 pounds (6,781 kilograms)
Maximum takeoff weight: 32,250 pounds (14628 kilograms)
Fuel Capacity: 17,300 pounds (7847 kilograms)
Payload: 3,000 pounds (1,360 kilograms)
Speed: 310 knots (357 mph)
Range: 12,300 nautical miles
Endurance: more than 34 hours
Ceiling: 60,000 feet (18,288 meters)
Armament: None
Crew (remote): three (LRE pilot, MCE pilot, and sensor operator)
Initial operating capability: 2011 (Block 30); 2015 (Block 40)
Inventory: active force, 33 (three more Block 30s purchased, to be fielded in 2017)
(Current as of October 2014)
questions and answers
What is the RQ-4 Global Hawk used for?
The RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance, remotely piloted aircraft with an integrated sensor suite that provides global all-weather, day or night intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability.
What is the range of the RQ-4 drone?
Dimensions: Span 130.9 ft, length 47.6 ft, height 15.3 ft. Weight: Max T-O 32,250 lb; max payload 3,000 lb. Power Plant: One Rolls-Royce North American F137-RR-100 turbofan, 7,600 lb thrust. Performance: Speed 356.5 mph, range 14,150 miles, endurance 32+ hrs (24 hrs on-station loiter at 1,200 miles).Is the RQ 4 unmanned?
The RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial system (UAS) provides air, ground and sea force commanders the near-real-time reconnaissance imagery they need to defeat an enemy halfway around the world.
Comments
One of the scenes showed someone using a joystick. I worked in the Global Hawk Labs for 14 years, and that plane is 100% autonomous! We would upload the mission into her computer and she would fly off and do the job. None of the Northrop Grumman vehicles use pilots with joysticks and software similar to Flight Simulator like the General Atomic's Predators.
To any terrorist/enemy of the U.S., you can be disintegrated from someone in another country with a click of a button, and no second thought. Really think about that before you try something.
Global Hawks don't have a joystick it's all keyboard and mouse the airplane completely flies itself the pilots just tell it where they want it to go. Secondly they don't carry any armament. They don't carry bombs or munitions of any kind. They don't even carry countermeasures like flares and shaft. They're flying gas tanks with cameras and radio equipment. They spend a day and a half flying around the same area taking pictures and making Radio Calls. It's an important job but this video is complete garbage.
The civilian uses of an aircraft that can loiter for more than a day and fly extremely high is surprisingly high for example monitoring storms, wildfires, volcanic activity, forestry, agriculture and way more. If the global hawks military career goes south it still has a lot of uses in the civilian sector.
It's a great bird, but it was killed by sheer greed of all the military contractors wanting record profits. I'm sure you could have this for $20 million per unit quite easily, but people want to overcharge at every step, and it all adds up to well over $100 million, when you factor in the immense profit margin they want.
Thanks for the breakdown! A bit off-topic, but I wanted to ask: I have a SafePal wallet with USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (alarm fetch churn bridge exercise tape speak race clerk couch crater letter). What's the best way to send them to Binance?
in the future, i believe there this aircraft will still need changes and upgrades possibly similar to the F-15 EX treatment. we'll probably end up calling this the RQ-4 Global Hawk 2 or something.
Now, how much was it that the Philippine gov't donated to the Maui fire victims? By the sound of it the reporter would have you believe FEMA should be transliterated into Filipino Emergency Management Agency in name and mission to draw attention with utmost urgency to the Filipino's plight or in simpler terms my cup runneth over when Filipinos are the receivers. And, if "language and cultural barriers," is what's truly standing in the way of Filipinos getting aid, then perhaps the solution is for Filipinos to assimilate more sincerely and approach english as their first language, and while they're at it if it ain't too much trouble get rid of that third world mentality too like stealing from your fellow employees. Hawaii people don't do that. It's not been a custom here.
The reporter didn't grow up in Hawaii Hawaiiana expert she having previously proclaimed Lahaina the Little Manila of Hawaii, albeit even if as advertised Lahaina is 40% Filipinos, the Filipinos ain't doing Lahaina a favor. It's the other way around. For one, if people heard Lahaina characterized as Little Manila individual donations would have dropped off by 50%.
I never understood why tech takes to long to advance. Like wireless charging. What was so complicated about it that nokia 3310 couldn't have it? Touch screens were invented when in the 70s? And then what? They forgot about it? By now drones shoud've been anything we needed. People still use tanks . Why? A single soldier can destroy a tank with a hand held anti tank missile
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