NATO RQ-4D Phoenix reaches new milestone.

The NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Force (NAGSF), with support from Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC), marked a significant milestone recently in the System Level Performance Verification with the completion of a nine-hour training and test flight conducted for the first time under control of NAGSF trained pilots.

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The AGS NATO RQ-4D aircraft is based on the US Air Force Block 40 Global Hawk. It has been uniquely adapted to NATO requirements to provide a state-of-the-art Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capability to NATO (Picture source: Northrop Grumman)

“Northrop Grumman is proud to support NAGSF pilots training as they control flights with number one NATO RQ-4D Phoenix,” said Jane Bishop, vice president and general manager, autonomous systems, Northrop Grumman. “We remain committed in our relationship to NATO and the mission to protect and defend global security.”

The AGS NATO RQ-4D aircraft is based on the US Air Force Block 40 Global Hawk. It has been uniquely adapted to NATO requirements to provide a state-of-the-art Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capability to NATO.. This includes protecting ground troops, civilian populations and international borders in peacetime, times of conflict and for humanitarian missions during natural disasters.

The AGS core will be an integrated system consisting of an air segment, a ground segment and a support segment.

The air segment consists of five NATO RQ-4D aircraft and remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) flight control elements. The aircraft will be equipped with a state-of-the-art, multi-platform radar technology insertion programme (MP-RTIP) ground surveillance radar sensor, as well as an extensive suite of line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight, long-range, wideband data links.

The ground segment consists of a number of ground stations in mobile and transportable configurations, able to provide data-link connectivity, data-processing, exploitation capabilities and interfaces for interoperability.

The ground segment will provide an interface between the AGS core system and a wide range of command, control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C2ISR) systems. It will interconnect with multiple deployed and non-deployed operational users, as well as with reach-back facilities away from the surveillance area.

The AGS core support segment will include dedicated mission support facilities at the AGS Main Operating Base in Sigonella.

Interoperable contributions in kind, such as national surveillance systems and data/communications, will also be made available to NATO and will complement AGS with additional surveillance capabilities.

The composition of the AGS core system and national contributions in kind will provide NATO with considerable flexibility in employing its ground surveillance capabilities.

This will be supplemented by additional interoperable national airborne surveillance systems from NATO member countries, tailored to the needs of a specific operation or mission conducted by the Alliance.