Vought Aircraft Industries Delivers First Enhanced Wing for Global Hawk UAV
August 11, 2005 -
Vought Aircraft Industries delivered its first enhanced wing to prime contractor Northrop Grumman July 21 for the U.S. Air Force RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle (UAV), the company said today.
The wing was successfully tested to 100 percent limit load on May 20, the company said.
The enhanced wing is one of a number of system improvements Northrop Grumman is making to increase Global Hawk's capability. The improved UAV will accommodate a larger payload while maintaining current platform performance specifications.
Vought's work includes design development, fabrication, assembly and structural testing of the new wing. For the RQ-4A model, Vought built two prototype and nine production wings under its Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) contract with Northrop Grumman.
The company is currently scheduled to build seven production wings for the new RQ-4B model, with options for future production lots of the new wing configuration. Vought has built two RQ-4B prototype wings and is producing another article for testing ultimate loads.
Global Hawk has completed more than 200 missions and logged over 4,300 flight hours, including flying missions over Afghanistan in 2001 and playing a key role in supporting Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom
