Sway-backed Warrior: The Global Hawk aircraft proves looks can be deceiving - Brief Article

Airman, Nov, 2001 by Jeremy T. Lock

Imagine a pilot strapping into an aircraft, taking off J and flying for 18 to 36 hours straight with no rest--or potty break. No time to catch a nap. In an aircraft that doesn't need to refuel or land during the entire mission.

Impossible? Maybe for everyone except Superman.

While airmen aren't capable of performing non-stop like Superman, the Global Hawk is. It's the Air Force's newest high-altitude reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft. It doesn't need a pilot. The remotely operated aircraft has plenty of stamina for the job--even with no guns, no bombs, no rockets.

That kind of work is risky business today, as attested to by the incident earlier this year when a Chinese air force fighter collided with a Navy EP-3 Orion surveillance aircraft on patrol over the South China Sea. The accident forced the four-turboprop aircraft and its crew of 24 to land at a base on China's Hainan Island.

The event underscores the need for ROAs that can keep aircrews out of danger. The Air Force saw it needed unmanned vehicles after the Persian Gulf War.

Enter the RQ-4A Global Hawk. It's not anywhere near as fast as the sleek SR-71. And it doesn't have the reputation of the venerable u-2. It's not as sexy or photogenic.

Jimmy Durunte with wings

So, it's possible the high-flying newcomer will fool the casual observer. With its swayed-back, skinny, sailplane-like wings, V-tail and big bulbous nose, it might look like Jimmy Durante with wings -- too ungainly for such endurance.

But it's not, and can prove it. Earlier this year, a Global Hawk -- named Southern Crossing II after the first aircraft to fly nonstop across the Pacific Ocean -- flew from its home at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to a Royal Australian Air Force Base in Edinburgh, Australia. The flight took 23 hours, and the 7,500-mile mission was the first trans-Pacific flight by an unmanned aircraft.

"Just to see it take off one day and not see it again until the next day is amazing enough," said Senior Airman Brian Fox of Edward's 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron. A maintenance crew chief, he's one of just a handful of airmen who work on the next-generation aircraft.

The crew chief was in Australia with 27,000 American, Canadian and Australian forces taking part in Tandem Force. The joint forces exercise trains troops for crisis action planning and contingency response operations.

While there, the aircraft flew 11 missions. Four supported the exercise. It was the first time the United States operated the Global Hawk jointly with another country.

Wing Cmdr. Brett Newell, Australia's Global Hawk deployment commander, said American and Australian crews put the plane through a range of new scenarios.

Those flights allowed Australia's Defence Science and Technology Organisation, the Royal Australian Air Force and the U.S. Air Force to evaluate the aircraft's ability to do maritime, coastline and land surveillance.

Global Hawk spent six weeks in Australia. Its trip was a huge success, said Col. Wayne Johnson, director of the Global Hawk program for the reconnaissance systems program office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

"We will use the lessons learned from that deployment to better meet the war fighter's needs when the system is operational," Johnson said.

Global Hawk proved its versatility in Australia. That's why the Air Force wants it.

It will provide field commanders with a high-altitude, long-endurance system that'll provide high resolution, near-real-time imagery of large geographic areas.

That's a mouthful. But something the aircraft has proven it can do - with more high-tech gadgets and sensors than a techno-geek's closet.

The plane's huge array of gizmos includes sophisticated synthetic aperture radar, moving target indicator, electrooptical and infrared sensors, and high-rate satellite and line-of-sight data link systems.

To use them properly and gather the best information, it must fly above 40,000 feet. That way the craft can get a good slant range. If that's not high enough, it can fly above 65,000 feet.

That makes Global Hawk the world's most advanced high-altitude, long-range remotely operated aircraft, said Lt. Col. Pat Bolibrzuch, 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron reconnaissance program officer.

"There's nothing comparable," he said. "And it's a lot cheaper to fly than a manned aircraft."

It flies itself

The bird's "pilots" stay on the ground. Its flight control, navigation and vehicle management are independent and based on a mission plan. That means the airplane flies itself - there's no pilot on the ground with a joystick maneuvering it around.

However, it does get instructions from airmen at ground stations. The launch and recovery element provides precision guidance for take-off and landing, using a differential global positioning system. That team works from the plane's operating base.

At another ground station, airmen in the mission control element tell Global Hawk where to go and where to point its sensors to get the best images.

And it gathers a bunch of data. On a 24-hour mission, staying aloft on its 116-foot wingspan, the 44-foot long aircraft can survey an area the size of Illinois. That includes zooming in on specific areas to get spot images.