GLOBAL HAWK MAY HELP FIGHT DRUGS.

Byline: JIM SKEEN Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - In use tracking insurgents in the Middle East, the unmanned Global Hawk reconnaissance aircraft proved in a test demonstration that it also can track drug runners.

In tests mandated by Congress, the Global Hawk showed that it could track low-flying aircraft and small boats in demonstration flights along the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, Northrop Grumman announced Monday.

Three 28-hour flights, originating from Edwards Air Force Base, were conducted in February and March, officials from Northrop Grumman said.

``This exercise demonstrated how the Global Hawk system could assist military combatant commanders and homeland security officials to stem the flow of illegal drug trafficking in the air and on the water,'' said James Kohn, Northrop Grumman's program manager for the demonstration.

Congress, which allocated $18 million for the effort, called for the tests in the 2001 Defense Authorization Act. The tests had been delayed until this year, however, because of pressing demands for intelligence from the aircraft to aid the War on Terror.

Congress directed that the testing be performed under the guidance of the Defense Department's Southern Command, whose mission includes countering drug trafficking from Central and South America. Congress also directed that the tests be carried out under ``conditions typically encountered in the performance of counter-drug surveillance.''

There were two goals of the tests - to show that a Global Hawk's sensors could detect low-flying planes from an altitude of 60,000 feet and to show that its maritime sensor capabilities can locate and track fast-moving small boats. The tests were done with pre-arranged targets.

The flights began from Edwards, went along the southern United States along the Gulf of Mexico and then into the Caribbean Sea. The flights were controlled from Northrop Grumman's Unmanned Systems facility in San Diego, company officials said.

Global Hawk was able to detect and track the targets off the coast of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Key West, Fla. The target locations were passed to a Navy P-3 Orion surveillance craft. The P-3 crew was able to confirm and classify the targets, Northrop Grumman officials said.

Controlled by onboard computers, the Global Hawk is capable of flying at an altitude of 65,000 feet, above storms and some six miles higher than jetliners normally fly. A Global Hawk can fly for more than 35 hours at a time, and during a single mission can cover 40,000 square miles.

The aircraft are designed to fly themselves with preprogrammed missions but can receive commands from a pilot operating from a ground station.

Prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Global Hawk program was in a technology demonstration phase in which a handful of aircraft were being built and tested to see whether a high-altitude, unmanned reconnaissance aircraft was possible.

After the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, the Global Hawk test aircraft were pressed into war duty over both Afghanistan and Iraq. In the past year, Global Hawk aircraft have provided 15,000 images of targets in the Middle East, according to the Pentagon.

The program has logged more than 8,000 flight hours thus far, with over half of that total being in war service.

In January, the first two production RQ-4A Global Hawks were deployed to an undisclosed Middle East location to begin intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Those aircraft replaced the early test aircraft that served in combat.

The Global Hawk aircraft are being built by a small cadre of Northrop Grumman workers in Palmdale.

james.skeen(at)dailynews

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