NAVAIR’s Maritime Demonstration’s RQ-4A Global Hawk on approach to Pax River.
On Jan. 25, NAVAIR’s Maritime Demonstration program achieved an important milestone: 100 flights of its RQ-4A Global Hawk, the U.S. Navy’s high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system demonstration.
‘‘These first 100 successful flights are giving the Navy a glimpse into the tactical advantages for using long-range, long-endurance unmanned systems for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR),” said Persistent Maritime Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program Manager, Capt. Bob Dishman, who oversees the Maritime Demo program.
It’s been about two years since the Global Hawk first arrived at Patuxent River. On Jan. 31, 2007, the unique aircraft – a pair of which is operated by NAVAIR’s Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Twenty (VX-20) – rolled down the main runway and climbed for its first flight, the pilot sitting in a camouflaged trailer within a fenced compound more than a mile away. The liftoff came after more than four years of preparation which included acquisition via an Air Force contract; modification to meet Navy requirements; deployment to Pax River, main operating base of the Navy’s Global Hawk, and setting up the infrastructure for operating a demonstration unmanned aircraft system (UAS).
During 2007, Maritime Demos flew more than 60 ISR experimentation sorties totaling more than 430 flight hours, and supported seven combat and expeditionary strike group training and certification exercises during which 7,000 images were taken. To further hone strategy and tactics for the use of a large UAS, the Maritime Demo team conducted numerous experiments and even participated in two search-and-rescue events off the coast of Virginia with the U.S. Coast Guard.
The successful record of regular, sustained and safe flight operations within the national airspace prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to issue a revised certificate of authorization that allows Maritime Demo to operate within expanded airspace that currently ranges from the Canadian border to the Straits of Florida.
Now that the program has achieved these milestones, the Maritime Demo team is focused on expanding Global Hawk capabilities through the first system deployment to Point Mugu, Calif., and to participate in two maritime events: the Fleet’s annual Trident Warrior and the biennial international Rim of the Pacific exercises.
(This article was submitted by Public Affairs for Unmanned Aviation.)
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