The Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft still needs nearly USD 2 billion in upgrades so that it can complete all the missions done by the manned Lockheed U-2, which the US Air Force (USAF) wants to retire to save money, a top service official said on 9 June.
“We can only afford one high-altitude ISR platform,” said Lieutenant General Robert Otto, the USAF’s deputy chief of staff for ISR. “But if we don’t fund [Global Hawk] upgrades, I can’t see how we convince the combatant commanders that Global Hawk is it.”
The general was speaking at an Air Force Association event in Arlington, Virginia.
The necessary work consists of upgrades to ground stations, communications and imagery capability, and the Global Hawk’s weather radar, Gen Otto told IHS Jane’s .
According to a USAF spokesman, the entire effort would cost USD1.9 billion over six years.
The service earlier this year reversed course on its 2012 plan to divest its new fleet of Global Hawk Block 30 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and is now proposing to retire its U-2 fleet instead.
Just two years ago, the USAF said that the Global Hawk was too costly to fly. At the time, the air service’s plan to mothball the UAVs was met with strong resistance in Congress.
This year, with President Barack Obama’s administration’s fiscal year 2015 (FY 2015) budget request, the Department of Defense said that it has been able to reduce the cost of flying RQ-4s and that it would prefer to retire the U-2 instead.
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has said that the decision “was a close call”.
Source: Jane’s