Northrop Grumman EURO HAWK

SIGnals INTelligence (SIGINT) Unmanned Air System (UAS)

United States | 2010

"The Northrop Grumman EURO HAWK was intended to serve the German military in the SIGINT role before being cancelled during 2013."

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 07/06/2017 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

Image from official Northrop Grumman press release; Credit Josef Gietl.

EURO HAWK Unmanned Air System (UAS) was under development by the American concern of Northrop Grumman to fulfill a SIGINT (SIGnals INTelligence) role for the German military. The vehicle was based on the RQ-4 Global Hawk (RQ-4B Block 20 model) product and set to become the first foreign variant of the line which has seen extensive use by American forces since its introduction in 2001. For the Germans, the UAS would have taken on specific mission equipment as related to the ELINT (ELextronic Inelligence) and COMINT (COMmunications Intelligence) roles - however, the program was cancelled in May of 2013 due to growing concerns over achieving civil airspace certification. The EURO HAWK was set to succeed the stock of outgoing Dassault-Breguet Br.1150 Atlantique airborne SIGINT aircraft - the fleet was retired in 2010.

A EURO HAWK prototype was unveiled in October of 2009 and achieved first flight on June 29th, 2010 - though this over American soil. It was delivered to Germany in July of 2011 for further, local evaluation. Due to growing concerns about certification of the vehicle (and applicable costs) the system was abandoned. Before the end, EURO HAWK was able to set several European air records related to unmanned air vehicles during its time aloft - one flight netted the aircraft an endurance record by flying continuously for over 25 hours.

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Despite the loss of EURO HAWK, there is renewed in early 2015 of bringing about the similar Northrop Grumman MQ-4C "Triton" UAV (detailed elsewhere on this site) to fulfill the SIGINT role. The vehicle is already being pursued by the United States Navy (USN) and has become a more evolved UAS form of the original Global Hawk with a better chance of achieving certification over civil airspace as it includes such features as icing prevention. Certainly USN endorsement of the product can only help in push the Triton to becoming the next German SIGINT aircraft.

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Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one aircraft design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for the Northrop Grumman EURO HAWK SIGnals INTelligence (SIGINT) Unmanned Air System (UAS).

1 x Rolls-Royce F137-RR-100 turbofan engine developing 7,600 lb of thrust.
Propulsion

364 mph
585 kph | 316 kts
Max Speed

60,039 ft
18,300 m | 11 miles
Service Ceiling

14,155 miles
22,780 km | 12,300 nm
Operational Range

City-to-City Ranges
Operational range when compared to distances between major cities (in KM).

NYC

LON

PAR

BER

MOS

TOK

SYD

LAX

NYC

Structure
The nose-to-tail, wingtip-to-wingtip physical qualities of the Northrop Grumman EURO HAWK SIGnals INTelligence (SIGINT) Unmanned Air System (UAS).

0
(UNMANNED)
Crew

47.6 ft
14.50 m
O/A Length

130.9 ft
(39.90 m)
O/A Width

15.4 ft
(4.70 m)
O/A Height

14,947 lb
(6,780 kg)
Empty Weight

32,254 lb
(14,630 kg)
MTOW

Design Balance
The three qualities reflected below are altitude, speed, and range. The more full the box, the more balanced the design.

RANGE

ALT

SPEED

Armament
Available supported armament and special-mission equipment featured in the design of the Northrop Grumman EURO HAWK SIGnals INTelligence (SIGINT) Unmanned Air System (UAS) .

None. Mission package centered on SIGnals INTelligence (SIGINT).

Variants
Notable series variants as part of the Northrop Grumman EURO HAWK family line.

EURO HAWK - Base Product Name; based on the RQ-4B Global Hawk Block 20 product; single example completed.

Operators
Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the Northrop Grumman EURO HAWK. Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national aircraft listing.

Total Production: 1 Units
Contractor(s): Northrop Grumman - USA

[ Germany (cancelled) ]

Relative Max Speed

Hi: 400mph

Lo: 200mph

Aircraft Max Listed Speed (364mph).

Graph Average of 300 MPH.

Era Crossover

Showcasing Aircraft Era Crossover (if any)

Max Alt Visualization

Production Comparison

1

36183

44000

Entry compared against Ilyushin IL-2 (military) and Cessna 172 (civilian) total production.

MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

Aviation Timeline

EarlyYrs

WWI

Interwar

WWII

ColdWar

Postwar

Modern

Future

♦

1 / 1

Image from official Northrop Grumman press release; Credit Josef Gietl.

Mission Roles
Some designs are single-minded in their approach while others offer a more versatile solution to airborne requirements.

UNMANNED

Recognition
Some designs stand the test of time while others are doomed to never advance beyond the drawing board; let history be their judge.

Military lapel ribbon representing modern aircraft

Going Further...
The Northrop Grumman EURO HAWK SIGnals INTelligence (SIGINT) Unmanned Air System (UAS) appears in the following collections:

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