WASHINGTON — A RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 unmanned vehicle has arrived at the Avalon Air Show in Victoria, Australia, marking the first appearance of the high-altitude, long-endurance system at an international airshow.
The US Air Force Global Hawk left Anderson Air Force Base in Guam and, after a roughly 5,700-kilometer trip, landed safely at Avalon International Airport Saturday night, local time. It will be on static display at the show through at least the middle of the week.
The Australian Air Force announced last year it had decided to procure the MQ-4C Triton model of the Global Hawk to meet its maritime surveillance requirement. The Triton, a variation on the RQ-4 being developed for the US Navy, comes equipped with an advanced AESA radar and the ability to go below cloud cover.
Although details are still being finalized, the information released by Australia indicated it plans a purchase of 7 MQ-4C models.
While the model on display is the USAF version, officials from both Australia's military and Northrop Grumman, which produces the Global Hawk, expressed excitement at having one at hand for the show.
Ian Irving, Northrop's top man in Australia, told Defense News he was "keen" about being able to showcase the large unmanned system at Avalon.
"It's a tremendous opportunity, not just for defense community but for the general public, to get an appreciation" of the Global Hawk, Irving said.
He also praised the USAF for its willingness to send an asset down to Australia for the show, noting it "shows the strong linkage and collaboration between the two nations."
"The interoperability and the commonality there will be a significant asset for both nations," he added.
Formally known as the Australian International Airshow, Avalon begins Tuesday and runs through Sunday.
The Global Hawk is proving popular in the Pacific, even outside of Australia. South Korea has agreed to purchase four of the unmanned systems, while Japan has said it intends to buy the Global Hawk as part of a strategic plan for its military.
Mick Jaggers, Northrop's Global Hawk program manager, also said he could see a future potential for a consortium of Pacific nations to buy into the Global Hawk program together, similar to the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance program, in which 15 NATO nations will share costs to operate five Global Hawk Block 40s.
"When I look at the body of water, the oil reserves, the fisheries, all the things that require an airplane with the wide-area surveillance you get with a Global Hawk, those are perfect opportunities for people to find those common grounds and figure out a way to use this technology to help those nations," Jaggers said.
Domestically, the Global Hawk program is focusing on the development of a universal payload adaptor for the Block 30, which would allow the unmanned system to carry a host of new sensors — including some that are currently unique to the U-2.
Jaggers said the development of the adaptor is being paid for out of Northrop's internal R&D money, and the company is "almost complete with our physical interfaces" on the program. The next step is to attach a sensor of the Air Force's choosing to the adaptor and run a series of tests, including live-flight testing, to prove the system works.
Northrop intends to have the proof of concept work done before the end of the year, although Jaggers noted that schedule is partly at the mercy of the Air Force, which would have to loan the company a Global Hawk system for tests. Once given the ok, the plan is to push the open payload architecture to all future Block 30 models, including international customers.
Email: amehta@defensenews.com
Twitter: @AaronMehta
Aaron Mehta was deputy editor and senior Pentagon correspondent for Defense News, covering policy, strategy and acquisition at the highest levels of the Defense Department and its international partners.
