Contract award: Euro Hawk development about to start
Koblenz, 01/31/2007.
Within the Euro Hawk, the Bundeswehr pursues a new course in airborne reconnaissance using the Euro Hawk. The unmanned system allows the detection of radio and radar signals.
On January 31, 2007 the Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement (BWB) in Koblenz tasked Eurohawk GmbH in Immenstaad on Lake Constance with the development and construction of a Euro Hawk demonstrator system.
The Euro Hawk is an unmanned aerial vehicle meant to replace the electronic reconnaissance aircraft version of the BR-1150 Breguet Atlantic from 2010 onwards. Part of the electronic reconnaissance will be the detection of radio and radar signals.
The Euro Hawk is based on the unmanned airborne platform of the RQ-4B Global Hawk used in the US Air Force. Different from the Global Hawk, the Euro Hawk is equipped with a new signal-detecting mission equipment including a new signal reconnaissance technology developed by EADS. The Global Hawk used by the US Air Force, on the other hand, is equipped with imaging sensors.
The Euro Hawk is controlled and monitored by a pilot operatoring froma ground station. The air vehicle has an endurance of 30 hours and can reach a speed of approx. 555 km/h. It has a maximum takeoff weight of about 14 tonnes. The aircraft fuselage is approx. 14 m long and the wingspan is about 40 m.
Delivery of a demonstrator system to the Bundeswehr is scheduled for the second half of the year 2010 to be followed by an initial flight phase immediately afterwards. After separate contract award, delivery of another four production UAVs to the Bundeswehr is scheduled to be completed by the year 2014.
