The Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and the 452nd Flight Test Squadron, Edwards AFB, Calif., joined forces with the Navy at NAS Patuxent River, Md., last month to demonstrate the compatibility of a new payload—High Band Subsystem Signals Intelligence—intended for production Global Hawk UAVs. The Air Force elements also aided the Navy’s Global Hawk Maritime Demonstration during Trident Warrior 2005—it was the Navy’s first use of its new maritime Global Hawks in a wargame. All this gets done, of course, while the Global Hawk team supports war on terrorism operations, says ASC’s Global Hawk Systems Group director Randy Brown.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.