Northrop Grumman Corporation has delivered the fifth NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) aircraft with a non-stop transatlantic flight, the company reported on Thursday.
“Once the NATO AGS system achieves Handover, NATO Commanders will have greater flexibility and redundancy to support the mission of protecting ground troops, civilian populations and international borders in peacetime and times of conflict as well as humanitarian missions during natural disasters,” said Jane Bishop, vice president and general manager, autonomous systems, Northrop Grumman.
The aircraft departed on Wednesday, Nov. 11 from Palmdale, California and landed approximately 20 hours later on Nov. 12th at Sigonella Air Base, Sigonella, Italy. The air vehicle is the last of five NATO RQ-4D aircraft.
With the recent transport, Northrop Grumman has completed delivery to the Main Operating Base (MOB) of the NATO AGS system of systems comprised of aircraft, ground and support segments. Work remains to complete Handover of the AGS System to the NATO AGS Force (NAGSF).
The NATO AGS RQ-4D is based on the U.S. Air Force wide area surveillance Global Hawk. The high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned NATO AGS system, including multi-platform radar technology insertion program radar, will provide advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability that will deliver near real-time situational awareness.
Led by Northrop Grumman, the NATO industry team is composed of companies from across NATO’s member nations, including Leonardo, Airbus and Kongsberg, as well as other defense companies from all AGS Procuring Nations.
About Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman solves the toughest problems in space, aeronautics, defense and cyberspace to meet the ever evolving needs of our customers worldwide. Our 90,000 employees define possible every day using science, technology and engineering to create and deliver advanced systems, products and services.
