Air Force Global Hawk Becomes A Land And Sea Threat For The Air Force

The Air Force successfully completed the first Maritime Modes program risk reduction flight as the service moves toward providing a new air-sea battle surveillance capability.

The test flight, which took place in the airspace above the Navy's Point Mugu sea range in California, consisted of an 11 and a half hour sortie on a test Global Hawk Block 40 remotely piloted aircraft.

Maritime Modes is comprised of two components: a Maritime Moving Target Indicator and a Maritime Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar, or MISAR, that function together to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information on vessels traveling on the water's surface.

During the flight, the MISAR collected data on assets and moving targets on the water, ultimately testing more than 100 items of interest. Flight test data is being analyzed in order to determine initial performance, stability and necessary fixes before entering the development test and evaluation phase.

Currently, RQ-4B Global Hawks are the only aircraft equipped with the MP-RTIP radar system.

"This capability will augment the MP-RTIP's existing ground surveillance and provide the warfighter with a complete ground, coastal and open seas picture," said Frank Hertler, the Maritime Modes program manager. "The system will be able to detect, track, classify and build a profile from where the vessel came from as well as have the ability to see much smaller marine vehicles."

(Image provided by U.S Air Force)

FMI: www.airforce.com