A high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) took off on July 20th from Edwards Air Force Base, California. This UAS from Northrop Grumman was stationed on the RQ-4 Global Hawk.
On July 21st, it landed at Manching Air Base, Germany. An innovative SIGINT mission system created by EADS Deutschland will be installed into the Euro Hawk in Germany.
The initial Euro Hawk demonstrator will be supplied to the Bundeswehr in the middle of 2012. Four other systems have been scheduled to be delivered from 2015 to 2017.
The member of the EuroHawk board of directors stated that the Euro Hawk is a highly efficient system supplied to the Bundeswehr. Nicolas Chamussy, member of the EuroHawk board of directors stated that the partnership with Northrop Grumman has enabled them to develop complicated UAS solutions in Europe.
CEO at EuroHawk, Neset Tukenmez, stated that the Bundeswehr will meet their demands for SIGINT data analysis and collection, thus helping European Union, NATO, and United Nations operations. Unlike commercial airliners, Euro Hawk features a large wingspan. It can reach a maximum height of 60,000 feet or above and an endurance of 30 hours. EADS Deutschland and Northrop Grumman signed a joint venture to form EuroHawk.
Source: http://www.northropgrumman.com/