Northrop Grumman celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of its Global Hawk UAV supporting US military actions in late November.
The long range Global Hawk is still one of the most advanced UAVs in operation and has contributed greatly to the advancement of drone technology. The Global Hawk has logged over 200,000 operation hours for the US military—with nearly half of those coming in the last three years—showing the growing importance of UAV operations for the American military.
According to Northrup Grumman here are some of the highlights of the Global Hawk’s service:
2001: Global Hawk first deployed, while still officially in testing.
2003: Becomes 1st UAV to be authorized to fly in national US airspace.
2007: Becomes 1st autonomous aircraft to support fighting wildfires in Southern California.
2010: Global Hawk is the first to survey damage, following devastating earthquake in Haiti.
2011: Provides critical monitoring of Japanese infrastructure, following earthquake and tsunami.
2016: Global Hawk is used to monitor tropical storms and hurricanes.
