RQ-4A Global Hawk

The Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) provides Air Force and joint battlefield commander’s near-real-time, high-resolution, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance imagery. In the last year, the Global Hawk provided Air Force and joint war fighting commanders more than 15,000 of these images to support Operation Enduring Freedom, flying more than 50 missions and 1,000 combat hours to date.

Cruising at extremely high altitudes, Global Hawk can survey large geographic areas with pinpoint accuracy, to give military decision-makers the most current information about enemy location, resources and personnel.

Once mission parameters are programmed into Global Hawk, the UAV can autonomously taxi, take off, fly, and remain on station capturing imagery, return and land. Ground-based operators monitor UAV health and status, and can change navigation and sensor plans during flight as necessary.

Global Hawk currently is undergoing flight testing at the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., with more than 1,700 hours and more than 120 successful sorties flown. The Global Hawk Program, Reconnaissance Systems Program Office, Aeronautical Systems Center is located at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, which assumed total program control on Oct. 1, 1998.

Global Hawk began as an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration in 1995 to give warfighters a rapidly-developed prototype that could be used for Military Utility Assessment and early operational activities. In June 1999, Global Hawk began a series of exercises sponsored by U.S. Joint Forces Command to determine its future military utility.