NORTHROP TO BUILD DRONE FIRM TO PAY FOR NEW GLOBAL HAWK TEST MODEL.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Northrop Grumman announced Thursday it will build a company-funded Global Hawk aircraft to test new technologies, a move being taken because of increased interest from potential customers in the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft.

The company expects the aircraft will be completed in 2004 and will be the same configuration as those already in production in Palmdale. A cost estimate was not available, but aircraft being produced for the Air Force are estimated to cost approximately $70 million, counting ground support systems and spare parts.

``We want to have an asset to use for evaluating different technologies,'' said company spokesman Jim Hart. ``There is a lot of interest in Global Hawk from different parts of our government and from other governments.''

Controlled by computer, the unmanned aircraft can fly 1,200 miles, linger over its target for 24 hours at nearly twice the altitude of a passenger jetliner, and then fly back.

The aircraft is intended to provide long, lingering views over areas of interest to battle commanders and intelligence officials.

Global Hawks' radar is capable of detecting objects 100 miles away, and its cameras provide still images clear enough to identify targets as far away as 30 miles.

``As the utility and demand for unmanned systems such as Global Hawk expand, we must be able to evaluate their application towards meeting a broad spectrum of current and future operational requirements,'' said Scott J. Seymour, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems company.

Global Hawk is in low-rate initial production in Palmdale for the Air Force and has provided critical support to combat operations in Afghanistan. The Navy is procuring two Global Hawk systems to explore its potential for ocean surveillance.

In addition, there is interest from Australia and European allies in the Global Hawk.

Six Global Hawk aircraft have been built by Northrop Grumman thus far, but three have been lost in crashes - two in support of the Afghanistan campaign and one during a test mission out of Edwards Air Force Base.

Northrop Grumman has reached into its own pocket to fund an aircraft before. In a bid to give itself a leg up in a competition to develop an unmanned Navy fighter, the company spent about $35 million of its own money to build and flight test a prototype named Pegasus.

Built with the assistance of Mojave's Scaled Composites, Pegasus is now undergoing taxi tests at the China Lake Naval Warfare Center near Ridgecrest.

FROM CONCEPT TO COMBAT

Northrop Grumman Global Hawk chronology

--February 1998 - The first Global Hawk unmanned surveillance plane makes its first flight at Edwards Air Force Base.

--March 1999 - A Global Hawk flying over the China Lake naval weapons test range crashes after inadvertently picking up a flight termination signal radioed during a test at a Nevada base.

--October 1999 - Northrop Grumman announces it will shift Global Hawk assembly from San Diego to Palmdale after the acquisition of Teledyne Ryan Aeronautics, the craft's builder.

--October 1999 - A Global Hawk flies from Edwards to Alaska and back in 24.8 hours, testing along the way its radar surveillance gear's ability to locate moving targets and transmit images to military personnel on the ground.

--March 2001 - The Global Hawk was named the winner of the National Aeronautic Association's Collier Trophy, given annually for the greatest achievement in American aviation.

--April 2001 - A Global Hawk flies nonstop from Edwards to Australia, guiding itself by a preprogrammed mission plan without human intervention. The craft performs in tests for the Australian government.

--November 2001 - The Pentagon discloses that Global Hawk aircraft will be used in the Afghanistan campaign, though they are preproduction versions that have not finished testing.

--December 2001 - A Global Hawk crashes on a combat mission. The Air Force said a structural problem was caused by an improperly installed bolt.

--July 2001 - Another Global Hawk crashes on a combat mission. The crash was blamed on an engine malfunction.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

(color) The Global Hawk is built by Northrop Grumman in Palmdale.

Northrop Grumman

Box:

FROM CONCEPT TO COMBAT (see text)