Northrop Grumman has delivered the sixth RQ-4A Global Hawk production model to the Air Force. The seventh Global Hawk is scheduled for delivery this summer, and development team members say they are working on completing the final assembly and prepping for the first flight of the next-generation enhanced version of the high-flying unmanned aerial vehicle. The new model will be able to carry 1,000 more pounds of payload. So far Global Hawks have flown more than 5,500 combat hours in more than 250 missions for the global war on terror.
The Air Force’s nascent KC-Z program, aimed at developing a next-generation family of systems for aerial refueling, will look to launch its analysis-of-alternatives study in 2024, years earlier than originally planned. Originally, the analysis of alternatives for KC-Z was set for “maybe in the 2030s,” Paul Waugh, program executive officer…