BACN is a high-altitude, airborne communications and information gateway system that maintains operational communications support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The persistent connectivity that BACN provides improves situational awareness and enables better coordination between forward-edge warfighters and commanders. BACN bridges and extends voice communications and battlespace awareness information from numerous sources using a suite of computers and radio systems.

After the BACN payloads have been integrated on the Block 20 Global Hawks, the aircraft will be designated as USAF EQ-4B unmanned systems, providing long endurance and high persistence gateway capabilities.

"The addition of two more BACN systems on Global Hawks will decisively enhance the required 24/7 gateway capability," said Claude Hashem, vice president of the network communications systems business at Northrop Grumman's Information Systems sector.

"The EQ-4B unmanned systems will continue to provide long endurance and unsurpassed communications persistence to our warfighters."

Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for the development, fielding and maintenance of the BACN system and the RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft.

The company was awarded the first BACN contract in April 2005 by the Air Force Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass.

The Global Hawk program is managed by the Air Force Aerospace Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

"This latest award continues the BACN program tradition of delivering new capability on compressed timelines that meets the operational needs," said Steve Zell, Northrop Grumman BACN program director.

Northrop Grumman's work on the BACN program is managed and performed in San Diego with Global Hawk integration performed in Palmdale, Calif.

]]> Fri, 03 FEB 2012 13:13:07 AEST Baghdad (AFP) Jan 31, 2012 - Washington must obtain Baghdad's permission to use drones to watch over US facilities in Iraq, the Iraqi government spokesman said on Tuesday, adding he does not believe such a request has yet been made.

But US President Barack Obama spoke about surveillance drones in Iraq during an online event on Monday, indicating that they may already be in use.

"The embassy needs to get the approvals from the Iraqi government for any sort of surveillance which is needed," Ali al-Dabbagh told AFP in a telephone interview, when asked about America's use of surveillance drones.

"We could understand how important such surveillance (is) for the embassy and the security of the people working in the embassy, but at the same time we would insist that the permission needs (to come) from the Iraqi government," he said.

Dabbagh said that, to his knowledge, such permission has not yet been requested by the United States.

"As far as I know, there is no request till now, but hopefully... they will apply and the Iraqi government would look on this issue."

Obama referred to drones in Iraq during the event hosted by Google+ and YouTube on Monday, saying that: "The truth of the matter is we're not engaging in a bunch of drone attacks inside of Iraq. There's some surveillance to make sure that our embassy compound is protected."

During a press briefing the same day, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland went into greater detail on the State Department's use of drones.

Asked about the use of surveillance drones in Iraq, she said: "The State Department has always used a wide variety of security tools and techniques and procedures to ensure the safety of our personnel and our facilities."

"We do have an unmanned aerial vehicle program used by the State Department. These are tiny little things. They are not armed. They are not capable of being armed."

"What they are designed to do is help give us pictures over our facilities to help in their protection," Nuland said, adding that "they can be used over the facilities or to track personnel who are moving."

She did not however mention the countries in which they are used, saying: "It is only going to even be considered in critical threat environments. Im not going to get into the where for obvious reasons."

Asked if the State Department obtained permission for their use, Nuland said: "We, the State Department, always work closely with host governments on the physical protection of our facilities and our personnel, and this was part and parcel of that," without specifying whether or not permission was obtained.

The State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security 2010 Year in Review report meanwhile mentions that a "successful" unmanned aerial vehicle test was conducted in Iraq in December 2010, and that Diplomatic Security "plans to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles to support US Embassy Baghdad in 2011."

The New York Times reported on Sunday that the United States's use of a small fleet of surveillance drones in Iraq had angered Iraqi officials.

All US forces except for a relatively a small number under embassy authority departed Iraq on December 18, bringing to a close America's almost-nine year war. Iraq has been eager to assert its sovereignty following the US military withdrawal.

]]> Fri, 03 FEB 2012 13:13:07 AEST Washington (AFP) Jan 31, 2012 - President Barack Obama has confirmed for the first time that US drones have targeted Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants on Pakistani soil, a programme that has escalated under his administration.

The government in Islamabad, whose relations with Washington sank to an all-time low last year, appeared to shrug off the confirmation but made a rare public acknowledgement that the programme had "tactical advantages".

Asked about drones in a chat with web users on Google+ and YouTube, Obama said "a lot of these strikes have been in the FATA" -- Pakistan's semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas on the Afghan border.

"For the most part, they've been very precise precision strikes against Al-Qaeda and their affiliates, and we're very careful in terms of how it's been applied," Obama said on Monday.

"This is a targeted focused effort at people who are on a list of active terrorists, who are trying to go in and harm Americans, hit American facilities, American bases, and so on."

He said that many strikes were carried out "on Al-Qaeda operatives in places where the capacities of that military in that country may not be able to get them", such as Pakistan's lawless tribal zone.

"For us to be able to get them in another way would involve probably a lot more intrusive military action than the ones we're already engaging in."

US officials say Pakistan's tribal belt provides sanctuary to Taliban fighting in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda groups plotting attacks on the West, Pakistani Taliban who routinely bomb Pakistan and other foreign fighters.

According to an AFP tally, 45 US missile strikes were reported in Pakistan's tribal belt in 2009, 101 in 2010 and 64 in 2011.

The New America Foundation think tank in Washington says drone strikes in Pakistan have killed between 1,715 and 2,680 people in the past eight years.

Human rights campaigners have expressed deep concern over increased use of drone strikes. The State Department also confirmed it used surveillance drones to protect US diplomats in so-called "critical threat environments" overseas.

The United States had until now refused to discuss the strikes publicly, but the program has dramatically increased as the Obama administration looks to withdraw all foreign combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

US diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks in late 2010 showed that Pakistan's civilian and military leaders privately supported US drone attacks, despite public condemnation in a country where the US alliance is hugely unpopular.

"Notwithstanding tactical advantages of drone strikes, we are of the firm view that these are unlawful, counterproductive and hence unacceptable," foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told AFP on Tuesday.

Relations between the United States and Pakistan deteriorated sharply in 2011, over the covert American raid that killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in May and US air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.

Islamabad is now reviewing its entire alliance with the United States and has kept its Afghan border closed to NATO supply convoys since November 26.

It ordered US personnel to leave Shamsi air base in western Pakistan, widely believed to have been a hub for the CIA drone program, and is thought likely to only reopen the Afghan border by exacting taxes on convoys.

But analyst Imtiaz Gul, who has written extensively about Pakistan's tribal belt, said Islamabad was hemmed in by its US alliance and stands to lose more than it would gain by ending its cooperation with the war in Afghanistan.

"Geostrategic compulsions arising out of partnership with the United States and other allies basically restrict Pakistan from taking a public position on the drone strikes," he told AFP.

The review of the alliance will not result in any "earth-shattering recommendations", he said.

]]> Fri, 03 FEB 2012 13:13:07 AEST Washington (AFP) Jan 31, 2012 - President Barack Obama downplayed a recent report about the use of US drones in Iraq, indicating that the unmanned aircraft are mainly used for embassy surveillance.

Obama said during an online event on Monday that a New York Times story citing Iraqi officials as expressing outrage over the use of US drones following last year's troop withdrawal was "a little overwritten."

"The truth of the matter is we're not engaging in a bunch of drone attacks inside of Iraq. There's some surveillance to make sure that our embassy compound is protected," he said during the event hosted by Google+ and YouTube.

In the same interview, Obama confirmed for the first time that US drones had targeted Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants on Pakistani soil, a program that has escalated under his administration.

"For the most part, they've been very precise precision strikes against Al-Qaeda and their affiliates, and we're very careful in terms of how it's been applied," Obama said.

"This is a targeted, focused effort at people who are on a list of active terrorists, who are trying to go in and harm Americans, hit American facilities, American bases, and so on."

He said that many strikes were carried out "on Al-Qaeda operatives in places where the capacities of that military in that country may not be able to get them", such as Pakistan's lawless tribal zone.

"For us to be able to get them in another way would involve probably a lot more intrusive military action than the ones we're already engaging in."

The Times report said the State Department began operating some drones in Iraq last year on a trial basis and stepped up their use after the last US troops left the country in December, ending the nine-year conflict.

The State Department drones carry no weapons and are meant to provide data and images of possible hazards, like public protests or roadblocks, to security forces on the ground, it said.

]]> Fri, 03 FEB 2012 13:13:07 AEST Tel Aviv, Israel (UPI) Jan 30, 2012 - Israel's most advanced unmanned aerial vehicle crashed during a test flight amid expectations the giant drone, with a wingspan as big as a Boeing 737's, was set to become a major export winner.

The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday that the UAV, known as the Eitan -- Hebrew for "strong" -- went down near Tel Nof Air Base south of Tel Aviv "after it performed a maneuver beyond its capabilities, causing one of its wings to break off."

The daily said the craft, built by Israel Aerospace Industries, was flying with "a new navigation component that, the air force suspects, might have disrupted the drone's automatic flight systems."

The air force and IAI are investigating the crash.

The Post reported that the air force commander, Maj. Gen. Ido Nehushtan, said at a conference on air and space strategic studies in Tel Aviv that IAI was testing new technology on the Eitan when it crashed.

There were no other details on that equipment but it came amid growing concerns that Israel was moving closer to launching pre-emptive air and missile strikes against Iran's nuclear infrastructure.

The Eitan reputedly can fly as far as Iran and there has been much speculation that it would be used as part of any assault on the Islamic Republic, either for reconnaissance and surveillance, or armed with air-to-ground missiles.

Nehushtan told the conference that Israel's long-held air superiority in the Middle East was being eroded since the country's adversaries are being equipped with increasingly advanced weaponry, some of which could end up in the hands of terrorists.

The Eitan went into service with the Israeli air force in 2010 and the first squadron equipped with the giant drone had been expected to become operational sometime in the next few weeks after working up an operational doctrine. That could be delayed because of Sunday's crash.

But as far as is known, the 4.5-ton plane, with a range of around 700 miles and a flight endurance of up to 45 hours, both depending on payload, wouldn't be able to fly to Iran and back. The Eitan in its current configuration is primarily designed to conduct long-endurance, high-altitude electronic surveillance missions well above commercial air traffic.

"With 24- to 36-hour endurance and the ability to operate above 40,000 feet, the Eitan certainly provides a noteworthy new capability for Israel," the U.S. global security consultancy Stratfor observed when Eitan was unveiled.

"But the UAV is something IAI has long been capable of designing and producing and it does not materially alter Israel's ability to strike Iran."

Stratfor noted that although the Eitan could reach Iran it would have to fly through Iraqi airspace -- then controlled by U.S. forces -- to get to Iran and that was too "politically sensitive" at that time.

But U.S. forces completed a withdrawal from Iraq in December, making the option of using Iraqi air space less of a problem.

Stratfor noted that the Eitan "does not have the capability to fly around the Arabian Peninsula, reach Iran and return to Israel."

The Eitan is the biggest UAV in the Israeli arsenal. It is 79 feet long with a wingspan of 86 feet. It has a powerful 1,200-hp turbo-prop engine and can carry a 1-ton payload at altitudes of up to 40,000 feet.

In terms of endurance, the Eitan has roughly the same capability as the U.S. MQ-9 Reaper, the latest variant of the Predator UAV, which has been used to eliminate leaders of al-Qaida and the Taliban with salvos of AGM-114 Hellfire ground-to-air missiles.

Israel doesn't divulge the offensive capabilities of its UAVs but Stratfor noted, "While there is little doubt the Eitan can be fitted with Hellfire missiles and perhaps even configured to carry 500-pound bombs, Israel's challenge is delivering 5,000-pound bunker-busters to Iran in order to damage key nuclear facilities."

IAI is one of several companies involved in the development of UAVs and these have become a key defense export item. In July 2011, IAI secured a $500 million contract from France for the Eitan, the first export deal for the craft.

"The deal is expected to lead to additional contracts for IAI as other countries, such as Germany, upgrade their UAV capabilities," the Post reported.

]]> Fri, 03 FEB 2012 13:13:07 AEST Washington (AFP) Jan 29, 2012 - Iraqi officials have expressed outrage at the United States' use of a small fleet of surveillance drones to help protect the US embassy, consulates and American personnel in Iraq, The New York Times reported late Sunday.

The newspaper said the State Department began operating some drones in Iraq last year on a trial basis and stepped up their use after the last US troops left the country in December.

The US government plans to take bids for the management of drone operations in Iraq over the next five years, the report said.

The State Department drones carry no weapons and are meant to provide data and images of possible hazards, like public protests or roadblocks, to security forces on the ground, the paper noted. They are much smaller than armed drones.

But the US government needs formal approval from Iraq to use such aircraft there, the paper noted, citing unnamed Iraqi officials.

Such approval may be hard to get given the political tensions between the two countries, The Times said.

A senior American official said negotiations were under way to obtain authorization for the drone operations, but Ali al-Mosawi, a top adviser to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki; Iraqs national security adviser, Falih al-Fayadh; and the acting minister of interior, Adnan al-Asadi, all said in interviews that they had not been consulted by the Americans, the report said.

"Our sky is our sky, not the USAs sky," Asadi is quoted by the paper as saying.

]]> Fri, 03 FEB 2012 13:13:07 AEST Los Angeles (UPI) Jan 26, 2012 - Researchers say a drone aircraft being tested by the U.S. Navy that could conduct a combat mission without human involvement raises troubling ethical questions.

The drone, designed to land on the deck of an aircraft carrier, operates not only with no pilot in the cockpit but with no pilot at all, raising the specter of a pre-programmed semi-independently operating machine capable of wreaking mayhem on its own.

While humans would program the autonomous drone's flight plan and could override its decisions, many find the concept of a heavily armed aircraft operating without direct human control worrisome.

"Lethal actions should have a clear chain of accountability," Noel Sharkey, a computer scientist and robotics expert, told the Los Angeles Times. "This is difficult with a robot weapon.

"The robot cannot be held accountable. So is it the commander who used it? The politician who authorized it? The military's acquisition process? The manufacturer, for faulty equipment?"

A U.S. Air Force report on the future of drones said it's only a matter of time before the machines have the capability to make life-or-death decisions over the battlefield.

However, officials would still monitor how the drones were being deployed, it said.

"Increasingly humans will no longer be 'in the loop' but rather 'on the loop' -- monitoring the execution of certain decisions," the report said. "Authorizing a machine to make lethal combat decisions is contingent upon political and military leaders resolving legal and ethical questions."

]]> Fri, 03 FEB 2012 13:13:07 AEST Falls Church, VA (SPX) Jan 27, 2012 - Northrop Grumman has released the following statement on the Global Hawk Block 30 program: "The Pentagon has announced that it is planning to cancel the Global Hawk Block 30 program and plans to perform this mission with the U-2 aircraft.

Northrop Grumman is disappointed with the Pentagon's decision, and plans to work with the Pentagon to assess alternatives to program termination.

"The Global Hawk program has demonstrated its utility in U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, as well as its utility in humanitarian operations in Japan and Haiti.

Just a few months ago, the Pentagon published an acquisition decision memorandum regarding Global Hawk Block 30 that stated: 'The continuation of the program is essential to the national security... there are no alternatives to the program which will provide acceptable capability to meet the joint military requirement at less cost.'

"Global Hawk is the modern solution to providing surveillance. It provides long duration persistent surveillance, and collects information using multiple sensors on the platform.

"In contrast, the aging U-2 program, first introduced in the 1950s, places pilots in danger, has limited flight duration, and provides limited sensor capacity. Extending the U-2's service life also represents additional investment requirements for that program.

"Northrop Grumman is committed to working with our customers to provide the best solutions for our country and our allies. We are pleased with the continuing support for the Global Hawk Block 40 system, as well as for the Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance system and our other unmanned systems."

]]> Fri, 03 FEB 2012 13:13:07 AEST St. Augustine, FL (SPX) Jan 27, 2012 - Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy have successfully completed a series of flight tests to demonstrate technology that could help extend the operating range and flight duration of future carrier-based unmanned systems.

The flight tests, completed Jan. 21 in St. Augustine, proved the functionality of the hardware and software that will enable the X-47B unmanned aircraft to demonstrate autonomous aerial refueling (AAR) in 2014.

The AAR activity is part of the Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program. Northrop Grumman is the Navy's UCAS-D prime contractor.

"These tests are a critical step toward proving that the X-47B can perform autonomous aerial refueling using either the Navy's probe-and-drogue refueling technique or the U.S. Air Force's boom/receptacle approach," said Carl Johnson, vice president and UCAS-D program manager for Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems sector.

"Future unmanned systems will need to use both refueling techniques if they plan to conduct longer range surveillance or strike missions from the carrier."

The AAR tests were conducted by a Northrop Grumman/Navy team using Calspan Corporation's (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) Variable Stability Learjet as the X-47B surrogate aircraft, and a K707 tanker provided by Omega Air Refueling (Alexandria, Va.).

The tests included simulated flight demonstrations of both boom/receptacle and probe-and-drogue aerial refueling techniques. No fuel was exchanged between the aircraft during the test events, however.

The Learjet surrogate was equipped with real or functional equivalents of the navigation systems, flight control processor and vision system that the X-47B will use to conduct refueling operations.

The aircraft contained no refueling receptacle or refueling probe. The K707, which is nearly identical in size and shape to an Air Force KC-135, was equipped with a Navy style refueling drogue only.

For each simulated refueling event, the Learjet/X-47B surrogate was piloted to a rendezvous position approximately one nautical mile from the tanker. Then the pilot transferred control of the aircraft to the X-47B's autonomous flight control processor, which controlled the Learjet during the test event.

During a typical refueling event, the tanker operator or a mission operator on the ground commanded the Learjet to fly, in sequence, to each of the major positions associated with aerial refueling:

(1) the pre-tanking observation point off one wing of the tanker;

(2) the refueling contact position behind the tanker; and

(3) the post-tanking "reform" position off the other wing of the tanker.

"These flights demonstrated empirically that an unmanned system can conduct aerial refueling operations with accuracy and precision," said Pablo Gonzalez, program manager for Northrop Grumman's UCAS-D AAR program. "The aircraft never gets tired, and it responds exactly the same way to operator commands every time."

"The X-47B will use a hybrid GPS/vision-based relative navigation system in conjunction with its autonomous flight control system to establish and maintain a precise distance between tanker and the receiver aircraft," he added.

The Northrop Grumman/Navy test team plans to conduct additional AAR surrogate testing using the same aircraft when flight-qualified versions of the relevant X-47B hardware and software become available.

The UCAS-D program plans to demonstrate in 2013 the ability of the tailless, autonomous, low-observable relevant X-47B demonstrator to safely operate from a Navy aircraft carrier, including launch, recovery, bolter and wave-off performance, followed by the autonomous aerial refueling in 2014.

The program also plans to mature technologies required for potential future Navy unmanned air system programs.

]]> Fri, 03 FEB 2012 13:13:07 AEST Washington DC (SPX) Jan 26, 2012 - The Navy is testing a system that promises to significantly increase the endurance and range of carrier-based unmanned aircraft.

As part of the Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) program, the Navy and industry partner Northrop Grumman have been developing Autonomous Aerial Refueling (AAR) technologies to refuel unmanned aircraft in flight. The team completed a series of flight tests Jan.21 in St. Augustine, Fla., as the latest step toward demonstrating unmanned AAR capability.

"The AAR segment of the program is intended to demonstrate a system that will enable the X-47B UCAS-D to safely approach and maneuver around tanker aircraft, performing both Navy and Air Force style refueling techniques," said Capt. Jaime Engdahl, Navy UCAS program manager.

The Navy has been working closely with the Air Force Research Lab for the past decade to develop technologies and operating concepts for AAR, Engdahl said. Both services share a common goal of enabling tankers to autonomously refuel manned and unmanned aircraft in the future, he added.

The UCAS-D team began this test phase in November when a team from Northrop Grumman installed X-47B hardware and software on a Calspan Learjet surrogate aircraft. The initial ground and taxi tests culminated in the first AAR test flight Dec. 20.

The team then conducted a series of flights using the surrogate aircraft, equipped with X-47B software and hardware, and an Omega K-707 Tanker. The Learjet successfully completed multiple air-refueling test points autonomously while commanded by a ground operator.

The AAR segment of the UCAS-D program is designed to assess the initial functionality of the X-47B AAR systems and navigation performance, as well as to test the government tanker refueling interface systems. The AAR program is using similar command and control, and navigation processes being demonstrated by the UCAS team aboard the aircraft carrier.

"The next big step for the program is to demonstrate this capability with the unmanned X-47B and actually plug the aircraft autonomously," Engdahl said. "The AAR team did an exceptional job executing flight test in St. Augustine. The team's' ability to successfully complete these test maneuvers so early in the program is a significant learning event and reduces risk for the future."

The team plans to conduct two more surrogate test periods before demonstrating refueling techniques on the X-47B in 2014. Data from the tests will be used to assess system performance, demonstrate viability of the AAR concept and develop operational procedures to support further development of future unmanned systems.

"By adding an autonomous aerial refueling capability to unmanned aircraft, we can significantly increase their range, persistence and overall flexibility," added Engdahl, who said he is very impressed with the system's performance. "This is a game-changer for naval aviation and is critical for our success with unmanned long range aircraft in the future."

]]> Fri, 03 FEB 2012 13:13:07 AEST Subscribe to our daily selection of space, military, environment and energy newsletters responseText http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0016gbbKsaiGSpQFojVO8ZoHw%3D%3D