Grand Forks AFB, N.D., is slated to receive its first of 22 Block 40 Global Hawk high-altitude, long endurance remotely piloted aircraft by next summer, a Northrop Grumman official said during the Air Force Association’s Air & Space Conference. George Guerra, Northrop Grumman’s vice president of high altitude long endurance, said the block 40 aircraft will have the high performance Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program sensor, allowing the aircraft to see through virtually any type of weather, day or night, providing “game-changing situational awareness” for troops on the ground. The company plans to finalize sensor integration and conduct the first flight of the full Block 40 system later this year. Current plans call for all block 40 Global Hawks to be based at Grand Forks.
The Air Force is finished evaluating the proposed “interim” fix for the KC-46’s troubled remote vision system, and is moving toward finalizing the design of the “2.0” overhaul of the system. The Air Force is more focused on the 2.0 overhaul, and “we’ve completed nearly every aspect of the design”…