Alliance Ground Surveillance aircraft expands NATO's global ISR capability
NewsJune 05, 2015
PALMDALE, Calif. Northrop Grumman Corp. and industry partners together with NATO leaders unveiled NATO’s Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) aircraft. The purpose of the aircraft is to expand NATO's joint intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability.
The unmanned aircraft, a surveillance Global Hawk, is part of a systems solution that will help with the Alliances’ ISR needs during a range of NATO’s missions that include protecting ground troops and civilian populations, border control and maritime safety, crisis management, and humanitarian assistance in natural disasters.
This is the result of one of the commitments made at the 2012 NATO summit to bring the ISR capability to the Alliance, it marks a step forward in achieving NATO’s goal of acquiring NATO-owned and operated AGS Core Capability, says Erling Wang, chairman of the NATO AGS Management Organization (NAGSMO).
The program is owned and operated by NATO. It comprises of five air vehicles and fixed, mobile, and transportable ground stations. Northrop Grumman’s industrial team includes Airbus Defence and Space in Germany, Selex ES in Italy, and Kongsberg in Norway. The industries of 15 participating nations are contributing to the delivery of the AGS system. The nations include Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United States.
The Global Hawk has the ability to fly up to 30 hours at a time providing NATO with global situational awareness. It is also equipped with Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) sensor making weather data available to commanders during operations.
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