Northrop Grumman Unmanned Portfolio Achieves 100,000 Flight Hours Over Last 15 Years

Northrop Grumman Corporation's portfolio of high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) have achieved 100,000 flight hours – more than 88 percent of which were logged by the U.S. Air Force Global Hawk. The remaining hours were flown by the NASA Global Hawks, the German EURO HAWK®, and the U.S. Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator and, more recently, Triton UAS.

"U.S. Air Force Global Hawk is performing well and has contributed to the global intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance [ISR] mission, flying approximately 75 percent of its total flight hours in combat to support six combatant commands," said Col. Carlin Heimann, Global Hawk system program director for the U.S. Air Force. "The 100,000-hour milestone is a tribute to a great team that has supported combat operations for more than a decade."

Global Hawk carries a variety of ISR sensor payloads that allow military commanders to gather near real-time imagery and use radar to detect moving or stationary targets on the ground. The system also provides airborne communications and information sharing capabilities to military units in harsh environments.

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