The first Northrop Grumman-built Euro Hawk remotely piloted aircraft last week arrived in Germany after concluding flight testing at Edwards AFB, Calif. The high-flying electronic eavesdropping aircraft made the 22-hour transatlantic flight, touching down at Manching Air Base, a German air force installation, on July 21. Based on Northrop’s RQ-4 Global Hawk, the Euro Hawk will now undergo integration of its EADS-developed signals intelligence suite. Cassidian, an EADS company, will perform this integration in Manching. The German air force is procuring Euro Hawk to fill the gap in the German military’s long-endurance Sigint capability since last year’s retirement of the German Navy’s manned Breguet Atlantic fleet. Delivery of this Euro Hawk, one of five planned, is slated for mid-2012. (Cassidian release)
The Air National Guardsman who was arrested last year for sharing hundreds of top secret and classified documents to online chatrooms was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison on Nov. 12 after pleading guilty to several charges this March.