4 ms·

US flew Global Hawk spy drone missions from Australia

38 points by bootload 14y ago

philip1209 14y ago
I would love to learn more about the types of sensors on these aircraft. I'm wrapping up majors in systems engineering and physics, so reading about things like Synthetic aperture radar [1] makes me foam at the mouth. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_Aperture_Radar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_Aperture_Radar
- nosequel 14y ago
  You might find some information on Northrop Grumman's site, but don't get too hopeful as the Global Hawk is purposed as being a truck, where the sensors are the good stuff that no one talks about. I'd recommend looking into Northrop and Raytheon if you foam at the mouth when thinking about sensors.
- icegreentea 14y ago
  The main censor package on the Global Hawk is the Hughes Integrated Surveillance and Reconnaissance radar [1]. It has SAR and Moving Target Indication capability. So not only can you get hi-resolution scans of the target area, you can also automatically discriminate the vehicles from background. I imagine that it would also carry a pretty sophisticated visual/IR sensor system. The Global Hawk was meant to compliment/replace the U2 spyplanes, and THOSE had a resolution of ~2' back in the 70s. [1] http://articles.janes.com/articles/Janes-Radar-and-Electronic-Warfare-Systems/Hughes-Integrated-Surveillance-And-Reconnaissance-HISAR-TM-radar-United-States.html http://articles.janes.com/articles/Janes-Radar-and-Electroni... There are all sorts of other fun things going on with military radar and electronic warfare. The latest generation of radars coming out are typically all solid state and rely on beam forming. They're typically flexible and powerful enough now that the radar unit can be used for some jamming purposes. Some other fun things for you could be Digital RF Memory. Basically, you can play back a received radar pulse after running some DSP on it to create false contacts of different size/shape/location.
benologist 14y ago
Where would they fly to from Adelaide? Are they just testing them there or could they actually fly missions? For those who don't know AU that city's pretty much as far as you could be from... anywhere really. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=adelaide&ll=-35.173808,138.867188&spn=142.460609,346.289063&hnear=Adelaide+South+Australia,+Australia&t=h&z=2 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=adelaide&ll=-35.173808,13...
- bootload 14y ago
  "... Where would they fly to from Adelaide? ..." with an 'official range' of 16,100 kilometres the following spring to mind: - Afghanistan, 10,700Km ~ http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+Afghanistan+to+adelaide http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+Afghanist... - North Korea, 8,400 km ~ http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+North+Korea+to+adelaide http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+North+Kor...
  - discodave 14y ago
    Yes, but why fly from Adelaide rather than Guam or Diego Garcia or the UAE which are all closer.
    - anovikov 14y ago
      That's range not radius. Flying to Afghanistan thus requires 23000 km of range, plus fuel for time on station. Fortunately, it was in 2001-2006 when the main modification was RQ-4A which has a range of 25000 km, so even a mission to Afghanistan was possible, just with only 4-5 hours on station.
    - dsl 14y ago
      China does not have great costal radar, so they station a ton of ships in the Philippine Sea to intercept Guam and the East China Sea to cover Misawa and Kunsan. The South China Sea is less guarded, so you can fly out of Paya Lebar in Singapore, or any number of locations in Australia (we are quite friendly). Adelaide also provides air services to JDF Pine Gap, which is the Australian hub UKUSA intelligence operations.

38 points by bootload 14y ago

I would love to learn more about the types of sensors on these aircraft. I'm wrapping up majors in systems engineering and physics, so reading about things like Synthetic aperture radar [1] makes me foam at the mouth. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_Aperture_Radar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_Aperture_Radar

nosequel 14y ago
You might find some information on Northrop Grumman's site, but don't get too hopeful as the Global Hawk is purposed as being a truck, where the sensors are the good stuff that no one talks about. I'd recommend looking into Northrop and Raytheon if you foam at the mouth when thinking about sensors.
icegreentea 14y ago
The main censor package on the Global Hawk is the Hughes Integrated Surveillance and Reconnaissance radar [1]. It has SAR and Moving Target Indication capability. So not only can you get hi-resolution scans of the target area, you can also automatically discriminate the vehicles from background. I imagine that it would also carry a pretty sophisticated visual/IR sensor system. The Global Hawk was meant to compliment/replace the U2 spyplanes, and THOSE had a resolution of ~2' back in the 70s. [1] http://articles.janes.com/articles/Janes-Radar-and-Electronic-Warfare-Systems/Hughes-Integrated-Surveillance-And-Reconnaissance-HISAR-TM-radar-United-States.html http://articles.janes.com/articles/Janes-Radar-and-Electroni... There are all sorts of other fun things going on with military radar and electronic warfare. The latest generation of radars coming out are typically all solid state and rely on beam forming. They're typically flexible and powerful enough now that the radar unit can be used for some jamming purposes. Some other fun things for you could be Digital RF Memory. Basically, you can play back a received radar pulse after running some DSP on it to create false contacts of different size/shape/location.

benologist 14y ago

Where would they fly to from Adelaide? Are they just testing them there or could they actually fly missions? For those who don't know AU that city's pretty much as far as you could be from... anywhere really. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=adelaide&ll=-35.173808,138.867188&spn=142.460609,346.289063&hnear=Adelaide+South+Australia,+Australia&t=h&z=2 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=adelaide&ll=-35.173808,13...

bootload 14y ago
"... Where would they fly to from Adelaide? ..." with an 'official range' of 16,100 kilometres the following spring to mind: - Afghanistan, 10,700Km ~ http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+Afghanistan+to+adelaide http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+Afghanist... - North Korea, 8,400 km ~ http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+North+Korea+to+adelaide http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+North+Kor...
- discodave 14y ago
  Yes, but why fly from Adelaide rather than Guam or Diego Garcia or the UAE which are all closer.
  - anovikov 14y ago
    That's range not radius. Flying to Afghanistan thus requires 23000 km of range, plus fuel for time on station. Fortunately, it was in 2001-2006 when the main modification was RQ-4A which has a range of 25000 km, so even a mission to Afghanistan was possible, just with only 4-5 hours on station.
  - dsl 14y ago
    China does not have great costal radar, so they station a ton of ships in the Philippine Sea to intercept Guam and the East China Sea to cover Misawa and Kunsan. The South China Sea is less guarded, so you can fly out of Paya Lebar in Singapore, or any number of locations in Australia (we are quite friendly). Adelaide also provides air services to JDF Pine Gap, which is the Australian hub UKUSA intelligence operations.