Drone - Et særdeles velegnet fly for jobben akkurat nå - The War Zone

Den skarpe observatør har sett typen operere over Svartehavet mange ganger. Det er mest sannsynlig NATO sine fra Sigonella nær Catania på Sicilia. Jeg har uthevet Pax River siden  mange av oss maritime flygere kjenner stedet godt. (Red.)

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Navy’s Global Hawks Come Home After Unexpected 13-Year Deployment

The Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator went from experiment to workhorse and undoubtedly cemented its place in U.S. Navy history.

BYEMMA HELFRICHJUN 23, 2022 8:42 PM

THE WAR ZONE

 

Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Grossi

EMMA HELFRICHView Emma Helfrich's Articles

On June 17, the last RQ-4A Global Hawk drone specially configured for the U.S. Navy as part of the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator program, or BAMS-D, landed in Patuxent River, Maryland to be greeted by the program's personnel responsible for its conception. Returning from a whopping 13-year-long deployment that was initially supposed to be a six-month concept demonstration, the remaining BAMS-D aircraft are on their way to tying off a storied career.

The BAMS-D program began in 2003 after the Navy awarded Northrop Grumman a contract to develop concepts of operation for a high-altitude, long-endurance maritime-focused unmanned system, which ended up laying the groundwork for the MQ-4C Triton. Originally called the Global Hawk Maritime Demonstration program, the Navy and Northrop Grumman then began working together to modify the U.S. Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk’s integrated sensor suite to include overwater radar and electronic support measures to better fit a maritime environment. Four of the early Block 10 RQ-4As were eventually modified for the program, which became known as BAMS-D.