The first Euro Hawk unmanned air system for the German armed forces has flown into the EADS air base at Manching after a 22-hour flight from California. The signals intelligence (SIGINT) platform should eventually replace a capability lost last year when the last of a fleet of Atlantic aircraft were retired.
Northrop Grumman's high-altitude, long-endurance platform will be fitted out with sigint sensors developed by EADS subsidiary Cassidian ahead of the Euro Hawk demonstrator being handed over to the Air Force for flight testing in mid-2012
The Germans could order another four systems for delivery between 2015 and 2017. The U.S. contractor said July 21 the program and the timings are "tentative."
Nicolas Chamussy, the head of UAVs at Cassidian Air Systems, said the Euro Hawk work "reinforces Cassidian's role as a leader for complex UAS solutions in Europe."
Euro Hawk, a joint venture between Northrop Grumman and Cassidian, is a HALE system based on the RQ-4 Global Hawk. Additional Northrop Grumman machines are expected to be added to European capabilities in the next few years.
NATO is expected to contract for six Block 40 Global Hawks later this year to meet the Alliance Ground Surveillance requirement.
