Euro Hawk makes first flight

The German Euro Hawk development of the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk made its first flight from Palmdale, California, on June 29, flying a two hour sortie before landing at nearby Edwards AFB.

The Euro Hawk is a development of the Block 20 Global Hawk, and encompasses an EADS designed signals intelligence (SIGINT) package.

“Formed as a 50-50 joint venture company by Northrop Grumman and EADS Defence & Security, EuroHawk GmbH acts as the national prime contractor for the German MoD throughout the lifecycle of the Euro Hawk system,” said Neset Tuekenmez, CEO of the EuroHawk GmbH, in a statement.

Germany has ordered four Euro Hawks, with the aircraft planned to replace manned Bregeut Atlantique aircraft.