USAF criticised over Global Hawk cuts

Flight Global ^ | 3/7/2012 | Dave Majumdar

[U-238]

Members of Congress on 6 March harshly criticised the US Air Force's decision to place its recently acquired fleet of Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 unmanned high altitude reconnaissance aircraft into storage.

The air force has 14 aircraft in service, while four more are being built by Northrop. All 18 would be retired in the fiscal year 2013 budget proposal.

Among the most vocal critics was Congressman Norman Dicks, but almost every member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee present voiced their dismay at the perceived waste of taxpayer dollars.

Testifying before the committee, USAF chief of staff Gen Norton Schwartz reiterated that the Global Hawk provides less sensor capability than the manned Lockheed U-2 for both electro-optical and infrared imaging and signals intelligence.

[ILS21R]

Testifying before the committee, USAF chief of staff Gen Norton Schwartz reiterated that the Global Hawk provides less sensor capability than the manned Lockheed U-2 for both electro-optical and infrared imaging and signals intelligence.

I've heard they have problems with their wiring also.

[pfflier]

This may be a hint that the Hawks have unsecure or vulnerable data links. Remember the Chinese hacked the JPL in November and in December, the Iranians claim to have taken control of the drone that landed in Iran.

My argument has long favored a human in the machine and this may be an example of why.

[Thrownatbirth]

The Navy’s buying 40 of the maritime version (MQ-4C) for broad-area ocean surveillance. Beats having sleepy pilots.

[napscoordinator]

Congress getting involved just means the Air Force is right.

[VeniVidiVici]

Transfer them to the Army.

[U-238]

Its called GPS spoofing.The Department of Transportation (DOT) has warned that the civilian GPS signals (the only ones available to most government users and all private users) are not secure. Few GPS users are paying attention.GPS spoofing is a extreme threat to national security. But it can easily be solved.

[org.whodat]

Ok, I will take the generals word for it. But just cancel the order for the damn things.

[pfflier]

I agree that is a problem, but I also think China may have cracked some direct up and down links used for C3. That could give them direct flight control and possibly functional systems control.