GLOBAL HAWK GETS AIRWORTHINESS CERTIFICATION.

Byline: Daily News

PALMDALE - Northrop Grumman Corp. said its RQ-4A Global Hawk robot spyplane became the first unmanned aerial vehicle granted a military airworthiness certification.

This certification, along with the Certificate of Authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration, recognizes Global Hawk's ability to routinely fly within national airspace.

Global Hawk's military airworthiness was certified Jan. 25, by the U.S. Air Force, Northrop Grumman said. In granting the certificate, the Air Force determined that the Global Hawk system has a proven track record of safe and reliable operations.

``This is a historic event,'' said Randy Brown, Global Hawk Systems Group director with the Air Force's Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. ``The aircraft was evaluated against over 500 technical criteria in order to get this certification.''

The airworthiness certification covers all five production RQ-4A Global Hawk vehicles delivered so far to the Air Force. Other unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVS, were granted civilian experimental airworthiness certifications.

The airworthiness-certification process for the larger RQ-4B Global Hawk has begun and is expected to be completed by late 2007, the company said. The first flight for the RQ-4B is planned for later this year.

The Global Hawks are assembled by Northrop Grumman workers in Palmdale.

During three deployments in the Middle East, more than 250 missions and 5,000 combat flight hours have been logged by Global Hawk aircraft.

Controlled by computer, Global Hawks can fly above 60,000 feet, above bad weather and prevailing winds, for more than 35 hours at a time.