Euro Hawk says goodbye to Edwards

Published July 27, 2011
By 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Euro Hawk is prepared for takeoff early July 20 at Edwards Air Force Base for a flight to Germany. After 20-plus hours it successfully touched down at Manching Air Base in Germany. The Euro Hawk, which was developed and built for the German Ministry of Defence, is the first international derivative of the Northrop Grumman-built RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance, signals-intelligence unmanned aircraft system. The EURO HAWK took off at 2:50 a.m. Pacific Time from Edwards and landed at 10:06 a.m. Central European Summer Time July 21 at Manching Air Base. The Euro Hawk was part of the Global Vigilance Combined Test Force while at Edwards. It completed 100-plus hours of testing during its more than year-long stay here. The aircraft will start payload testing in Germany, which is scheduled to wrap up mid-2012.