"The Northrop Grumman team worked vigilantly to help the Air Force deploy two Global Hawks this January," said Jerry Madigan, who leads Northrop Grumman's High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) systems.

"At the same time, we have worked hard to ensure the successful delivery of this Global Hawk. Now, we are looking forward to completing the final assembly and first flight of the next-generation, enhanced-version Global Hawk this year.

"This next-generation Global Hawk will be able to carry 1,000 pounds more payload than the current version, which fulfills one of our customer's most important requirements."

The seventh RQ-4 Global Hawk is scheduled for delivery to the Air Force this summer. The Navy acquired two RQ-4's for their Maritime Demonstration Program.

Global Hawk flies autonomously at an altitude of at least 60,000 feet, well above inclement weather and prevailing winds for more than 35 hours. During a single mission, it can travel more than 10,000 nautical miles from its take-off location, and it provides detailed image-based intelligence on 40,000 square miles, which is approximately the size of Illinois.

To date, deployed Global Hawks have flown more than 5,500 combat hours in more than 250 missions in support of the war on terrorism.

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