PALMDALE – Northrop Grumman and North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials unveiled its first NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) aircraft at the Palmdale plant, marking an important step in expanding the organization’s joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (IRS) capability.
Intended to support a full range of military and civil missions to ensure collective security for member nations, the AGS aircraft is a NATO-owned and operated wide-area, all weather, 24-hour surveillance program that will provide a persistent and complete picture of any situation on the ground, according to NATO officials.
More specifically, the unmanned aircraft is a wide-area surveillance Global Hawk that provides a protection solution to the alliance’s missions involving ground troops and civilian populations, as well as border control and maritime safety.
“What you see here today is the result of one of the commitments made at the 2012 NATO Summit – to bring this advanced and critical persistent ISR capability to the Alliance to help ensure we can continue to address the range of challenges our member and other allied nations face,” Erling Wang, chairman of the NATO AGS Management Organization, said at Thursday’s unveiling of the aircraft in Palmdale.
Trans-Atlantic teamwork was described as the most critical element to the program’s success. The event featured several representatives from Northrop Grumman’s primary industrial team, including Airbus Defence and Space (Germany), Selex ES (Italy) and Kongsberg (Norway).
Jim Edge, General Manager of the NATO AGS Management Agency, said there were no small roles played in the rollout of the NATO AGS program.
“The aircraft you are about to see is a testimony to getting our relationships right,” Edge said, noting that the aircraft is scheduled to be operational by Dec. 17. “Trust, loyalty and respect cannot be taken for granted – they must be nurtured every day to make this team a success.”
Janis Pamiljans, general manager of unmanned systems for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, agreed that multi-national teamwork made possible a surveillance system that will be the major data source for NATO’s joint operations.
“The level of collaboration required to bring together successfully so many international partners in the development of this tremendous system of systems capability for NATO speaks to the commitment and strength of the trans-Atlantic relationships we have built with our key partners, to deliver what is truly a European program,” Pamiljans said.
Operating under NATO command, the AGS system will provide a surveillance capability of operating at an altitude of 60,000 feet and with the ability to fly for up to 30 hours at a time.
Officials said the high-altitude long-endurance system aircraft is equipped with leading-edge technology, including the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) sensor – which will provide critical data to commanders during operations in any weather, day or night.
A $1.7 billion procurement contract for the NATO AGS system was signed in May 2012, supporting NATO’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance requirements for multi-national theater operations, peacekeeping missions and disaster-relief efforts, according to Northrop Grumman press statements.
The contract covered the purchase and initial operation and maintenance of five Block 40 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft equipped with an advanced ground surveillance radar sensor: the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP).
This radar is capable of detecting and tracking moving objects and providing radar imagery of target locations and stationary objects.
In addition, European industry contributors will provide development and delivery of the transportable ground stations suitable for in-theater support directly to commanders of deployed forces, mobile ground stations for close support to moving operations and remote workstations for higher-echelon commands.
NATO AGS will have its main operating base at Sigonella, Italy, and will be co-located with the U.S. Air Force Global Hawks and the U.S. Navy Broad Area maritime Surveillance unmanned aircraft systems.
“One may say that the sun never sets on the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance system,” Pamiljans said. “We have worked 24/7 for the success of this program.”
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Nick says
But…. Is it all weather? And how many flights get canceled for weather?
Just Saying says
From the second paragraph of the article;
…the AGS aircraft is a NATO-owned and operated wide-area, all weather, 24-hour surveillance program….
Nick says
That’s strange, cause right now the global hawk flights get canceled for weather a lot.
So, just curious what they’ve done for NATO that they can’t do for our troops
Just Saying says
I know these have been around for a while, so I guess this particular one must have improvements. I saw one of these at the next to last Edwards air show, that was quite a while back. Maybe it’s like watches that claim to be waterproof, but nobody believes it from experience.
Tim Scott says
Wild guess: while it CAN fly in all weather there are plenty of conditions where it just isn’t worth it. Bad weather increases risk and lowers the reliability of the intel at the same time, so that means approaching the threshold from both sides.
Nick says
From an article dated 9/2014 on Jalopnik:
The USAF’s Global Hawks cannot fly through bad weather. The aircraft lacks deicing and lightning protection equipment, as well as certain fortifications to its wing structure. Additionally, the pilots have no way to see a storm in front of the aircraft via on-board radar or optics. Seeing as the aircraft can fly over vast and remote distances on a single mission, this has hurt the Global Hawk’s sortie rate, as missions where bad weather could be encountered have to be scrubbed. In places like the Pacific, encountering storms somewhere along the Global Hawk’s long routes is more probable than not. This has plagued the RQ-4’s mission success rate, which is 55%, compared to the U-2 at 96%.
I think that sums up parts of why the Global Hawk isn’t all weather.
Eric says
Drones are so futuristic. Hey, some kids in Pakistan and Yemen already think it is entirely normal to live a life surrounded by flying killer robots in the sky.
NATO should find this helpful in Ukraine. They can show the Russian “volunteers” heading into combat, while totally ignoring that there are American contractors in combat with PMCs out there. The drone program is perhaps one of the best examples of the US foreign policy being hypocritical; states sovereignty should be respected, but we aren’t violating your sovereignty because it’s just a remote controlled plane.
The entire drone program should have funds revoked and the program shelved until governments can set reasonable, ethical, and legal limitations on their use, be it domestic, foreign, or combat related.
Lis says
These planes (NATO AGS and Global Hawks) don’t carry bombs. They are for surveillance only.
Eric says
I never referenced this platform as being able to carry bombs.
Just Saying says
In that case, your entire comment was off topic.
Tim Scott says
There has never been a limitation set on a weapon system until after it had been deployed, and likely never will be.
AV mom says
whoopee-damn-doo
they’re all spying on you, hahahaha