Edwards AFB News

Global Hawk UAV-3 welcomed home after combat deployment

  • Published
  • By Laura McGowan
  • Aeronautical Systems Center Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  After supporting the global war on terror intermittently for more than four years, Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle No. 3 (UAV-3) received its official homecoming Monday when its wheels touched down at 11:30 a.m. at Edwards.

During its overseas deployment, UAV-3 logged more than 4,800 flight hours supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and the Combined Task Force -- Horn of Africa.

On hand at the homecoming event were Maj. Gen. Curtis Bedke, commander, Air Force Flight Test Center; Randy Brown, director, Global Hawk Systems Group; Gary Ervin, sector vice president, Northrop-Grumman Integrated Systems Western region and Maj. Mike Lyons, Global Hawk pilot and chief of standardization and evaluation, 12th Reconnaissance Squadron.

The Global Hawk program is managed by Aeronautical Systems Center's Global Hawk Systems Group of the Reconnaissance Systems Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

Global Hawk UAV-3 was deployed after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The Air Force decision to deploy it while still an advanced concept technology demonstrator expressed the confidence the Air Force had in it and in future unmanned aircraft systems for the global war on terrorism, Global Hawk officials said.

Its capabilities were proven in combat environments while still in the pre-production stage of the acquisition cycle. While deployed, UAV-3 flew 249 total sorties -- 191 were combat sorties. It provided tens of thousands of battlefield images to military decision-makers.

"This system and this team has been the key to us being able to rethink how we deliver capabilities to those who really need it to support the global war on terror, and it is a major milestone in the program and one that is historical for the future of U.S. Air Force reconnaissance," Mr. Brown said.

According to program officials, the success of this program has been a team effort, evolving from the drawing board concepts to actual unmanned flight in combat environments.

"Global Hawk's all-weather imaging capability has truly pulled back the veil of protection once offered by darkness and poor weather, and tied that capability to a platform that can remain on task for nearly a full day," Major Lyons said.

"We are very proud of this program," General Bedke said. "Mostly, though, it's not about the airframe; it's about the people who designed, built, tested, acquired, (operated) and maintained this airframe both during test and at war.

"It doesn't matter whether they're contractors, Air Force civilians or Air Force military," he said. "It doesn't matter if they're test pilots, test engineers or other aircrew. They are all part of what we call the Global Vigilance Combined Test Force.

"We have the good fortune of living and working at a place that cherishes its history, its heritage and its heroes," the general said. "That heritage and history now includes Global Hawk UAV-3, and its heroes include all of the people who assured it could do its mission and continue to test at the same time."

(Editor's note: 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs and AFFTC/PA contributed to this article.)