Global Hawk

[Berkut]

Ecco una discussione sul Global Hawk.

Noto che somiglia moltissimo al Predator.

 

 

 

CIAO!!!

[Dominus]

Sen'è già parlato da qualche parte, comunque è tutt'altra cosa rispetto al predator, diciamo che in pratica non ci azzecca nulla

Comunque ti consiglio sempre Wikipedia

[dread]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Hawk

 

questo è l'articolo su wikipedia

 

le notizie sul global hawk sono frammentate in varie discussioni che trattano altri temi, questa potrebbere essere un buon punto per riunire il tutto, quindi lascio

Modificato 13 Gennaio 2006 da dread

[Berkut]

Comunque il Global Hawk e il Predator si assomigilano esteticamente.

La tecnica sarà tutt' altra cosa.

Comunque è un bel drone il Global Hawk.

 

 

 

CIAO!!!

[Gianni065]

Il Predator è quasi un giocattolino in confronto al Global Hawk.

Basta confrontare dimensioni, pesi, sistema di propulsione, prestazioni...

[Ospite intruder]

 

 

Australia has dropped plans to buy the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk for maritime surveillance, citing program delays that would have created a workload clash with the proposed introduction of Boeing P-8 Poseidons mid next decade.

 

The Australian defense force does not have the resources to introduce both aircraft at once, and so it has chosen the indispensable manned surveillance aircraft over the unmanned one. The decision means that Australia will cease to be a partner in the U.S. Navy program for deploying the Global Hawk in the maritime role, a program called the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS).

 

The move also suggests an increasingly cautious approach to program management by a defense force that has suffered from unusually serious project foul-ups over the past decade.

 

“The delivery schedule for the United States Navy’s BAMS program has slipped and resulted in the earliest possible in-service date for the BAMS aircraft moving out to 2015,” says Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon.

 

“Introducing such an advanced new aircraft at this time would have caused incredible workforce pressures on the Australian Defense Force, particularly given the requirement to transition the Air Force’s AP-3C Orion fleet to a new manned surveillance aircraft [the Boeing P-8 Poseidon] in the same time period,” the minister says.

 

Australia isn’t ruling out deploying the drones for maritime surveillance in the future, and will monitor progress BAMS and similar programs.

 

In announcing the decision Australia stresses that it has no doubts about the viability of BAMS.

 

“The Australian government has every confidence that the United States Navy BAMS program will deliver a very capable, uninhabited aircraft. However, at this stage in the development of this project, it is in Australia’s best interests to not knowingly risk incurring the unmanageable workforce chaos that would result.”

 

Australia has chosen the Poseidon to replace its updated Lockheed Martin P-3C Orions

 

 

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/sto.../AUST030209.xml

[Ospite intruder]

Payton Slams Northrop Grumman On Way Out

 

 

By Amy Butler www.aviationweek.com

 

 

During her final days in office, former U.S. Air Force acquisition chief Sue Payton fired off a letter to Northrop Grumman saying she was “increasingly concerned” about the company’s management of the Global Hawk high-altitude unmanned aerial system program.

 

Payton’s April 7 letter to Gary Ervin, president of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, outlines a series of problems that had contributed to her concerns, including: “poor design, workmanship and failure to follow production processes, which have contributed to delays in the Global Hawk development program,” according to a copy obtained by Aviation Week.

 

In response, Northrop Grumman “does not agree with Ms. Payton’s evaluation of the program,” according to Cynthia Curiel, vice president of communications for the company’s Aerospace Systems sector.

 

Yet, senior Air Force and Defense department officials are in the midst of establishing a new schedule for Global Hawk initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E). Previously the target was to execute IOT&E for Block 20/30 aircraft by November.

 

Weatherington

 

Dyke Weatherington, deputy director of the Pentagon’s UAS Task Force, says he expects at least a six-month slip.The delay is due to “a number of relatively small issues,” but come on top of each other and “conservative” test approach and throughput issues at Edwards Air Force Base, according to Weatherington. “It has just piled up and they are behind on flight testing.”

 

Payton’s tone appears to have changed since a December interview with Aviation Week. At that time, she expressed concerns about the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) radar sensor bound for Global Hawk Block 40 but she did not include Global Hawk itself among the programs she considered to be under duress. In her April 7 letter, however, Payton says that problems with MP-RTIP and Global Hawk “compound my concern about an enterprise-wide failure [at Northrop] in supporting the Air Force.”

 

Payton notes the detachment of the landing gear door on the first Block 20 Global Hawk during its maiden flight, faults with the Integrated Mission Management Computer, problems with ruddervator torque that resulted in fleet grounding. and the “inadequate” quality of the Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suite designed for use on the Block 20 and 30 UAVs. She further says additional company sales of Global Hawk variants to NATO and Germany are detracting from a focus on the Air Force program, she adds.

 

Current USAF officials declined to comment about the letter despite repeated requests. David Van Buren is now the acting assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition since Payton left in mid-April. Weatherington said cost growth associated with the IOT&E slip is likely to be around “tens of millions” of dollars.

 

Moreover, more than half of the issues identified by Payton “were resolved long before the IOT&E date was established,” an industry source says. And Northrop has been praised privately for rapidly recovering from issues found during test flights, this source claims.

 

“We do know there has been a huge growth in testing requirements levied on the program, and we’ve been working with the Air Force to reduce those testing requirements as much as possible,” says Ed Walby, business development director for Northrop’s Global Hawk program.

[Ospite intruder]

Global Hawk Emergency Prompts Hard Landing

 

Jun 1, 2009

 

 

 

By Amy Butler aviationweek.com

 

 

 

 

A U.S. Air Force Global Hawk unmanned air system (UAS) experienced an in-flight emergency May 28 during a test sortie at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., that resulted in a hard landing, according to service officials.

 

The incident took place late in the evening, they say. The aircraft involved, which is parked on the dry lakebed at the base, is in the Block 20 configuration. This Global Hawk version has an extended wingspan and is designed to carry 3,000 pounds of payload. Air Force officials expect this configuration to eventually assume the high-altitude surveillance role now handled by the U-2.

 

The lakebed landing was directed by officials during the flight, according to multiple sources. One Air Force official at the Pentagon said it was “not a big deal,” though officials did not disclose how much damage may have been done to the aircraft. The test flight was believed to have been part of envelope expansion work to increase gross weight take-offs and landings.

 

This was unfortunate timing for a flight incident; it occurred the night before Air Force officials briefed Ashton Carter, the incoming Pentagon acquisition czar, on the Global Hawk program as part of a Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) review. USAF officials briefed Carter about the incident but drew no conclusions pending an investigation, according to a Pentagon official.

 

The DAB is in the midst of establishing a new initial-operational test and evaluation plan for the Block 20/30 Global Hawk. At least a six-month slip is expected from earlier plans, which called for the testing to take place from August to November.

[Tuccio14]

Non ho capito bene... L'incidente è occorso ad un velivolo sperimentale della versione incrementata del Global Hawk?

[Ospite intruder]

Global Hawk Testing Awaits Investigation

 

Jun 10, 2009

 

 

 

Amy Butler and Guy Norris aviationweek.com

 

USAF says Global Hawk's unmanned attributes facilitated impromptu lakebed landing Printed headline: Sortie Spoiler

 

Testing of the Global Hawk unmanned aerial system (UAS) at Edwards AFB, Calif., was halted pending investigation of a May 28 emergency landing that was prompted by a spoiler malfunction during a test sortie.

 

The landing occurred at 11:53 p.m., and is being hailed by Maj. Gen. David Eichhorn, Flight Test Center commander there, as a serendipitous success due to the availability of the massive Rogers Dry Lake Bed, which is used by the space shuttle for landings.

 

Global Hawk air vehicle 9 (AV-9) was about 9 hr. into a sortie designed to characterize performance of the Raytheon Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suite when the first indication of a malfunction emerged. "The descent from altitude was not proceeding according to profile and the spoilers were not responding as predicted," according to Edwards officials.

 

Eventually, the aircraft landed after an unexpectedly long, unpowered glide. Once on the lakebed, the Global Hawk's right main landing gear struck one of NASA's Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI) lights for shuttle landings that are located on the path to Runway 22L. The light fixtures are trailer-mounted, but are considered fixed units, as they are not usually moved once aligned. In the incident, the UAS's main right gear struck both the light and the trailer and was partially sheared off in the process; the UAS's sensors are intact, though. NASA adds that for the upcoming STS-127 International Space Station mission a spare light will be put in place.

 

The Global Hawk landing is notable for two reasons. "Landing on the lakebed would not be an option with a manned aircraft since the lakebed runways are unlit, but the unmanned Global Hawk wouldn't know the difference," Eichhorn says. The PAPI system provides slope indications for the shuttle, but is not suitable for landing manned aircraft. Secondly, the endurance of the aircraft allowed enough time for officials to come up with a contingency plan.

 

Engineers and contractors toiled for about 7 hr. while the aircraft remained in flight overhead--Global Hawk is designed to exceed 24 consecutive hours of flight--to "find a way to safely recover what engineers formerly believed to be an unlandable configuration," they say.

 

At issue was how to decrease speed enough upon approach to increase the chances of recovering the aircraft and its expensive sensors intact. "Letting the aircraft land 'normally' would result in failure of the landing gear . . . because lack of spoilers would cause the aircraft to touch down too fast and then bounce back into the air," Eichhorn says in a June 2 commentary published on Edwards AFB's web site. "It's the next landing that's extremely nasty. The aircraft would float up and up and then nose over to come back down. The subsequent landing would be hard enough to fail the gear."

 

At about 11:30 p.m., officials decided to shut off the engine to allow the aircraft to glide on its approach and reduce speed upon touchdown. Eichhorn comments that this was a "daring plan," noting that--as with shuttle landings, including one on May 31 on the lakebed--landing without engines eliminates the opportunity for a second attempt. "The aircraft floated . . . far further than anyone expected. . . . It landed about 6, maybe 7 mi. down the runway," Eichhorn says.

 

He says he is "impressed" with how well the UAS withstood the collision after touchdown. The landing gear "didn't collapse for several more thousand feet."

 

Eichhorn says officials are "keeping their fingers crossed" that damage will cost less than $1 million, which is the threshold for a Class A mishap review.

 

The plan for an unpowered landing attempt also takes a lesson from the playbook of the high-flying U-2 spy aircraft, which will eventually be replaced by the Global Hawk. Like the U-2, the Global Hawk was designed to collect intelligence above 60,000 ft., a requirement that drove engineers to design the system for a steep climb rate to maximize the time for each sortie at altitude. And with both systems, this design presents challenges for a landing. The spoiler is engineered to increase drag during descent for landing, allowing the aircraft to stably reach the ground at a safe speed.

 

U-2 landings require the pilot to stall the engine upon approach, effectively decreasing speed fast enough to drop the aircraft onto the runway. On its centerline landing gear, the U-2 touches down and then glides to rest on one of its wings, which are reinforced to handle this wear and tear.

 

An investigation is ongoing to determine why the spoiler malfunctioned.

 

In the meantime, Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter conducted a review on May 29 of Global Hawk, during which he was briefed on the incident. The Pentagon hasn't yet released the outcome of this review. A new schedule to accommodate a delay to the initial operational test and evaluation schedule for the Block 20/30 Global Hawk hasn't yet been released; this delay existed before the May 28 incident. Pentagon officials have suggested the delay could slip those flight trials, which were set for August, by about six months.

[f.abbate.daga]

Salve a tutti, sono una ragazzo che frequenta l'itis elettrotecnico e mi piacerebbe realizzare una tesina sul global hawk però sul web non si reperiscono moltissime informazioni o almeno non abbastanza per completare una tesina intera... vorrei sapere se per cortesia qualcuno che sicuramente è piu informato di me sa darmi delle informazioni tecniche e non... grazie

[Andrea75]

U.S. Navy UAV Crashes in Maryland

 

A huge unmanned aircraft operated by the U.S. Navy crashed Monday along Maryland’s eastern shore, the Navy confirmed, but no injuries or personnel damage has been reported.

The crash, at about 12:11 eastern time, reportedly took place in a marshy area of the Nanticoke River, near Bloodsworth Island in Dorchester, Md., about 20 miles from the city of Salisbury.

The Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator (BAMS-D) aircraft, a modified Air Force Global Hawk RQ-4, is operated from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., as part of the overall BAMS development program.

 

Dalla CNN link con video Navy drone crashes in Maryland

Modificato 12 Giugno 2012 da Andrea75

[Andrea75]

Northrop Grumman gets ready for HALE air-to-air refuelling

 

Northrop Grumman (booth 3639) has flown two RQ-4 Block 10 Global Hawks in formation under its KQ-X programme to develop the concept of air-to-air refuelling for high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UAVs.

One of the aircraft in the exercise was equipped with a belly-mounted refueling system.

The two aircraft have yet to make dry contacts or exchange fuel, however.

[Andrea75]

Making Connections At 45,000 Feet: Future UAVs May Fuel Up In Flight

 

... UAVs aren’t designed to be refueled in flight ...

Today DARPA has addressed this capability gap. DARPA’s two-year Autonomous High-Altitude Refueling (AHR) program, which concluded Sep. 30, explored the ability to safely conduct fully autonomous refueling of UAVs in challenging high-altitude flight conditions. During its final test flight, two modified Global Hawk aircraft flew in close formation, 100 feet or less between refueling probe and receiver drogue, for the majority of a 2.5-hour engagement at 44,800 feet. This demonstrated for the first time that High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) class aircraft can safely and autonomously operate under in-flight refueling conditions. The flight was the ninth test and the first time the aircraft flew close enough to measure the full aerodynamic and control interactions.

 

[-{-Legolas-}-]

Beeene. Gli UAV si fanno spazio fra le peculiari capacità umane nel volo pilotato.

 

Questa notizia assume delle sfumature, se guardiamo questo near-miss fra un'aerocisterna e una AWACS... fiuu.

[Andrea75]

... aggiornamenti RQ-4 Global Hawk UAVs Prepare for Maritime Role per una futura sorveglianza marittima

 

Dec 18/12: Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Bethpage, NY receives a $7.2 million cost-plus-award-fee contract modification to support new Airborne Recorder certification requirements for BAMS-D. The change was forced by an NSA Information Assurance Security and Requirements Directive.

 

Work will be performed in Anaheim, CA (75%); Bethpage, NY (20%); and San Diego, CA (5%), and is expected to be complete in December 2013. Funding will be committed as needed (N00019-08-C-0023).

[Andrea75]

il Global Hawk non è l'unica opzione per Seoul http://www.defensenews.com/article/20121226/DEFREG03/312260003/Seoul-Says-Has-Other-Drone-Options-Than-Global-Hawks?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

 

Seoul Says It Has Other Drone Options Than Global Hawks

South Korea is not necessarily committed to buying U.S. Global Hawk surveillance drones, a spokesman said Dec. 26, after the Pentagon requested congressional permission for such a sale.

Seoul’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said it would decide early next year whether to buy the high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles made by Northrop Grumman that have come with a higher-than-expected price tag, at $1.2 billion for four of the drones.

“We will decide whether to proceed with the purchase plan only after we receive a letter of intent and carefully study the sale’s terms,” a DAPA spokesman told AFP.

Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified top government official as saying Seoul could consider other choices, such as Boeing’s Phantom Eye and the California-based AeroVironment Global Observer.

The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said Dec. 25 it had notified Congress of a possible sale of four remotely piloted Global Hawk aircraft.

“We’ve never said we would buy no other surveillance drones than Global Hawks,” the South Korean official was quoted as saying by Yonhap after the price tag suggested by DSCA appeared to be prohibitively high.

“Competing drones could be considered,” the official said.

“Negotiations would have to start anywhere below 800 billion won ($745 million) in total, as was suggested by the U.S. side last October,” the official added.

South Korea relies heavily on ally the United States for intelligence gathering and surveillance capabilities over nuclear-armed North Korea.

 

[Andrea75]

.. le richiesta di acquisto della Corea del Sud http://www.dsca.mil/PressReleases/36-b/2012/Korea_12-02.pdf

 

 

Republic of Korea – RQ-4 Block 30 (I) Global Hawk Remotely Piloted Aircraft
WASHINGTON, December 24, 2012 – The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress Dec. 21 of a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Republic of Korea for four RQ-4 Block 30 (I) Global Hawk Remotely Piloted Aircraft and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated cost of $1.2 billion.
The Republic of Korea (ROK) has requested a possible sale of four (4) RQ-4 Block 30 (I) Global Hawk Remotely Piloted Aircraft with the Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suite (EISS). The EISS includes infrared/electro-optical, synthetic aperture radar imagery and ground moving target indicator, mission control element, launch and recovery element, signals intelligence package, an imagery intelligence exploitation system, test equipment, ground support, operational flight test support, communications equipment, spare and repair parts, personnel training and training equipment, publications and technical data, U.S. Government and contractor technical and logistics support services, and other related elements of logistics support. The estimated cost is $1.2 billion.
The Republic of Korea is one of the major political and economic powers in East Asia and the Western Pacific and a key partner of the United States in ensuring peace and stability in that region.

[Andrea75]

Sale Of Global Hawk To South Korea Will Help Create Global Surveillance Network http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/sale-of-global-hawk-to-south-korea-will-help-create-global-surveillance-network?a=1&c=1171

 

 

In a farsighted strategic move, the Obama Administration has proposed the sale of four RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude, long endurance unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to South Korea. The Global Hawk is the premier U.S. high-end UAS, in operation with the U.S. Air Force and soon, as the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) system, with the U.S. Navy. Able to operate at altitudes as high as 60,000 feet and able to carry a wide range of payloads including electro-optical, infrared, radar-imaging sensors and electronic eavesdropping devices, a single Global Hawk can observe some 40,000 square miles a day. A squadron of four RQ-4s will permit South Korea to maintain a nearly continuous deployment. North Korea’s recent successful launch of a prototype for an ICBM, which came as a surprise to Western and South Korean intelligence services, underscores the need for better surveillance of that country.

The proposed sale to South Korea would be the third for the Global Hawk and could signal the beginning of a move to provide this critical capability to major allies around the world. The German Air Force acquired a Global Hawk to serve as an electronics intelligence platform in 2009. In 2011, 13 members of NATO agreed to pool their resources to acquire as many as eight Global Hawks as part of the Alliance’s effort to create a robust airborne ground surveillance capability. Contracts have been signed for the first five RQ-4s equipped with the advanced MP-RTIP sensor system. Other countries interested in acquiring the Global Hawk include Japan, Australia, India, Canada and New Zealand.

Sales of the Global Hawk to close friends and allies could be the basis for the creation of a virtual global surveillance network. Operating out of Europe, South Asia and the Western Pacific region, the national fleets of Global Hawks could provide continuous surveillance of the world’s major hotspots, maritime chokepoints and sea lanes. Data sharing among the members of this unofficial alliance would go a long way to enhancing the ability of the community of free and democratic nations to respond to regional threats and even natural disasters.

It is important that Congress allow this and future sales to go forward. A misguided attempt by that venerable institution to prevent foreign sales of U.S. satellite technology resulted in a decline in the domestic satellite industrial base and the rise of foreign competitors. The key to maintaining an advantage in UAS systems and related sensor, communications and power technologies is a robust R&D program, not constraint on sales of current systems to friends and allies.

 

[Andrea75]

Northrop Grumman Delivers Global Hawks to U.S. Air Force http://www.irconnect.com/noc/press/pages/news_releases.html?d=10017047

 

 

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has completed early delivery of two Global Hawk unmanned aircraft to the U.S. Air Force. Global Hawk allows military commanders to receive high-resolution imagery, survey vast geographic regions and pinpoint targets on the ground.

A photo accompanying this release is available at http://media.globenewswire.com/noc/mediagallery.html?pkgid=16461.

Both aircraft were delivered ahead of schedule in late November.

"Global Hawk's ability to fly more than 30 hours at high altitudes while gathering multiple types of intelligence data makes it extremely valuable to field commanders who need near real-time information," said George Guerra, vice president for Global Hawk unmanned aircraft systems. "These new aircraft add to that capability."

In 2012, three new Global Hawks were delivered to the Air Force and five previously delivered aircraft completed installation of additional sensors that will allow them to gather multiple types of intelligence data during a single mission.

A total of 37 Global Hawks have been delivered to the Air Force.

Global Hawk carries a variety of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) sensor payloads that allow military commanders to gather imagery and use radar to detect moving or stationary targets on the ground. The system also provides airborne communications and information sharing capabilities to military units in harsh environments.

Combined with Global Hawk's ability to fly for long periods, the aircraft's 12,300 nautical mile range makes the system ideally suited to take on many different ISR missions.

Global Hawk has logged more than 80,000 flight hours and has been used over battlefields in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. The unmanned aircraft system has also supported intelligence gathering and reconnaissance efforts following the devastating earthquakes that struck Haiti and Japan.

 

[Swissmade]

Non so se e il posto giusto ma non ho trovato altro.

Il Progetto Euro Hawks

e stato abbandonato dalla germania dopo averci speso un sacco di soldi perche

non ha la certificazione per volare sul territorio Tedesco.

 

Ma cosa vuol dire .... non ha la certificazione, e dopo averci speso piu di mezzo Miliardo di Euro (buttati)

 

Sapete dirmi qualcosa in proposito?

Thanks!

[holmes7]

Non so se e il posto giusto ma non ho trovato altro.

Il Progetto Euro Hawks

e stato abbandonato dalla germania dopo averci speso un sacco di soldi perche

non ha la certificazione per volare sul territorio Tedesco.

 

Ma cosa vuol dire .... non ha la certificazione, e dopo averci speso piu di mezzo Miliardo di Euro (buttati)

 

Sapete dirmi qualcosa in proposito?

Thanks!

 

 

 

Il modello utilizzato per l' eurohawk e' il block 20, un modello considerato in parte superato.

 

Teniamo presente che l'Usaf ha di fatti stoppato il block 30, per passare al block 40.

 

Il problema dell' "airworthiness" per il mezzo si pone, poiche pur volando a quote superiori ai velivoli di linea

ha bisogno di un "de-conflict" con altri aerei nella fase di decollo e atterraggio.

 

La questione reale pero riguarda i costi di supporto del ciclo operativo visto che appunto l'Usaf e' passato alla versione block 40. Il tutto si inserisce poi in una valutazione fatta dal ministero della difesa tedesca (c'e una lettera del deputy defense minister Kossendey) sull'intenzione di rivedere la partecipazione al segmento "Alliance Ground Surveillance System" della Nato.

E' possibile che invece di gestire tali velivoli in prima persona la Germania trovi un accomodamento con la Nato per una distribuzione dei costi.

[Swissmade]

Grazie!

In Germania dicono che il ministro della difesa probabilmente perdera' la poltrona ....

Perche ha sputtanato 570Millioni pur sapendo dei problemi .....

[holmes7]

La questione comunque sotto certi aspetti e' anche poco chiara, alcuni parlano di "dati" tecnici non comunicati dal costruttore

per la questione della certificazione.....e' possibile che questi "dati" siano relativi ai software della macchina che sarebbero "poco aperti'.

[fabio-22raptor]

 

 

 

Poland Joining NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Program

 

 

 

Poland is set to become the 15th nation to join the consortium of NATO nations procuring a fleet of five radar-equipped RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 40 air vehicles and associated ground control equipment under the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance program, according to a NATO official. "We are in the final stage of negotiating the entry of Poland in the program. This is a process, not just an event, because it involves discussion on industrial participation in the program," this official told the Daily Report during a June 28 interview at NATO headquarters in Brussels. "We believe that by October-November Poland will be a full member of the group of nations procuring the system," said the official. Last September, NATO nations signed the procurement contract for this equipment, which is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2017. It will provide the alliance with a high-altitude, long-endurance ground-surveillance and reconnaissance capability.