NORTHROP GETS $90 MILLION PACT UNMANNED GLOBAL HAWK TO HAVE NEW SURVEILLANCE RADAR SYSTEM.

Byline: Daily News

Northrop Grumman Corp. has received a $90 million U.S. Air Force contract to integrate a new airborne surveillance radar on its unmanned Global Hawk reconnaissance plane.

Northrop Grumman and Raytheon Co. are developing and producing the radar in a joint program.

The new radar will let the aircraft track targets both on the ground and in the air, delivering very high resolution images at long range, officials said.

The contract will include the integration of the new surveillance radar into the Global Hawk system, including the air vehicle and ground stations, to support the air-to-ground radar mission .

The radar's air-to-air capability may be added as a future upgrade, officials said.

Testing of the pod that will house the radar has already begun. The pod was flown on the high-altitude Mojave-based Scaled Composite's Proteus test aircraft April 27 to test the aerodynamic effects of adding the pod to the aircraft. The pod contained mass simulators to replicate the weight and characteristics of the radar.

``The flight was a complete success,'' said Pat Collins, Northrop Grumman manager for the program. ``The test aircraft flew for 3 1/2 hours at speeds up to 150 knots at an altitude of 47,000 feet.''

First flight with the actual radar is expected this fall aboard the Proteus.

The Global Hawk flies at altitudes over 60,000 feet, above storms. Global Hawk can stay aloft on station for more than 24 hours.

To date, Global Hawks have flown more than 6,000 combat hours in more than 260 missions in support of the war on terrorism.

The first two production Global Hawk air vehicles were deployed in January.