Navy's GHMD UAS Supports Firefighters During Navy Exercises

(San Diego, July 22, 2008) -- The U.S. Navy's RQ-4 Block 10 Global Hawk Maritime Demonstration (GHMD) unmanned aircraft system demonstrated its flexibility and persistence by providing critically needed imagery to firefighters during the recent Northern California wildfires. Built by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), GHMD flew more than 23 hours June 27-28 and collected more than 500 images for local fire officials.

"The flexibility of the GHMD team to rapidly shift gears from a planned maritime mission to a domestic humanitarian mission surpassed many expectations, by responding so quickly and providing high resolution images for the firefighting commanders," said Dave Seagle, GHMD program lead for the Persistent Maritime Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program Office (PMA-262) at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. "GHMD's capabilities and versatility to support this mission may have ultimately helped save lives and homes, and that is extremely gratifying to our GHMD team."

Flying its first civil emergency support mission for the U.S. Northern Command, GHMD imaged various fires, including those near Monterey, San Francisco Bay, Big Sur, Crescent City, and the California-Oregon border.

"The images were gathered while the GHMD aircraft was on assignment in Point Mugu, Calif., supporting the Navy's Trident Warrior and Rim of the Pacific 2008 exercises," said George Guerra, Northrop Grumman vice president of high-altitude long-endurance systems. "The GHMD team has performed superbly, meeting all mission objectives in support of both exercises."

Source : Northrop Grumman Corporation

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