NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Aircraft Successfully Takes Flight | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-10.07.24

Airborne-NextGen-10.08.24

Airborne-Unlimited-10.09.24

Airborne-FlightTraining-10.10.24

Airborne-Unlimited-10.11.24

Sat, Dec 26, 2015

NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Aircraft Successfully Takes Flight

Derivative Of Global Hawk UAS Can Fly For Up To 30 Hours

NATO's first Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) aircraft has successfully executed a comprehensive range of test points before landing at Edwards Air Force Base, achieving a much-anticipated milestone for the aircraft.

"The NATO AGS aircraft is part of a system that will allow NATO to meet the requirements of emerging situations around the world. The program will provide unprecedented flexibility and intelligence to the Alliance," said Jim Edge, NAGSMA general manager. "I couldn't be prouder of the multi-national team's hard work and dedication coming to fruition with today's first flight."

A derivative of the wide-area surveillance Global Hawk, the unmanned aircraft has the ability to fly for up to 30 hours at a time. The high-altitude long-endurance system will perform all-weather, persistent wide-area terrestrial and maritime surveillance in near real-time. The NATO-owned and operated system will provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to support a range of NATO missions such as protection of ground troops and civilian populations, border control, maritime safety and humanitarian assistance.

The aircraft is equipped with leading-edge technology, including the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) sensor. The MP-RTIP sensor will provide critical data to commanders during operations, in any weather, day or night. Utilizing the MP-RTIP sensor, the NATO AGS system will be able to fuse sensor data, continuously detect and track moving objects and provide imagery of selected objects.

"NATO AGS's successful initial flight kicks off the program's flight test program and represents Northrop Grumman's commitment to advanced airworthy systems for the Alliance," stated Rob Sheehan, NATO AGS deputy program manager, Northrop Grumman. "Strong collaboration between the Alliance and industry partners continues to move this extraordinary program forward."

NATO AGS will be based in Sigonella, Italy. The Italian airbase is already home to U.S Air Force-owned Global Hawks. Northrop Grumman will begin ferrying the first NATO AGS aircraft to Italy in 2016. The system is being procured by 15 NATO nations (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United States), and includes five aircraft and European-sourced mobile and transportable ground stations. The ground stations will provide data link connectivity, data processing and exploitation capabilities to multiple deployed and non-deployed operational users. Following acquisition, NATO AGS will become a 28 Alliance nation fully-owned and operated NATO capability.

(Image provided with Northrop Grumman news release)

FMI: www.northropgrumman.com

Advertisement

More News

Airborne 10.11.24: Starship 5!, Boom 5!, NBAA HERO Activation

Also: Flightoberfest Postponed, Navy Honors Carter, SkyAlyne Awards CAE, Spirit Wardrobe War SpaceX’s Starship may launch on its Flight 5 test flight as early as October 13, >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (10.09.24)

Aero Linx: E-4B The E-4B "Nightwatch" serves as the National Airborne Operations Center and is a key component of the National Military Command System for the President, the Secret>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (10.09.24): Ceiling

Ceiling The heights above the earth’s surface of the lowest layer of clouds or obscuring phenomena that is reported as “broken,” “overcast,” or &ldquo>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (10.10.24): Parallel Runways

Parallel Runways Two or more runways at the same airport whose centerlines are parallel. In addition to runway number, parallel runways are designated as L (left) and R (right) or,>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (10.10.24)

Aero Linx: First Flight Society First Flight Society is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization devoted to fostering and promoting a public awareness of and wide-spread interest in the o>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC