全球鹰下马，黑寡妇U－2超期服役至2023年

路透社消息，为了完成未来5年的4千8百亿美元军费预算缩减计划，美国空军日前决定忍痛割爱，砍掉全球鹰高空无人侦察机计划，而将依赖“更加划算”的U-2高空侦察机，并称U-2将能服役至2023年。

然而全球鹰的开发商诺思罗普公司并不甘心，并已计划将全球鹰的改版推销给美国海军。

The U.S. Air Force has decided to scrap its Northrop Grumman high-altitude unmanned surveillance plane program and instead extend the life of its U-2 aircraft into the 2020s, according to a government official and a defense analyst.

Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Virginia-based Lexington Institute, said the Air Force decision was based on the cost of the Global Hawk unmanned planes, and that the service would investigate using a Marine version with different sensors that Northrop is developing for the Navy.

The Northrop drone is one of dozens of weapons programs that face cancellation or cutbacks in the Pentagon’s fiscal 2013 budget and five-year plan, which begins to implement $487 billion in spending cuts over the next decade.

A U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said the Air Force’s Block 30 variant of the unmanned plane was being terminated in the budget request that will be sent to Congress Feb. 13.

Lawmakers have the final say over the Pentagon’s budget, and have reversed other program cancellations in the past.

An Air Force spokeswoman declined to comment.

Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz told Reuters earlier this month that the service’s budget proposal for fiscal 2013 would include terminations of some programs.

He declined comment at the time about the Global Hawk program, saying the service would likely “end up doing what gives us the best capability for the least cost.”

The remotely piloted Global Hawk surveillance planes fly at altitudes above 60,000 feet and can remain in the air for over 24 hours.

The Block 30 airframes sell for roughly $30 million apiece, not including their payloads. Raytheon’s optical, infrared and radar sensors let the aircraft scan large swaths of terrain and transmit images in near real-time.

The Global Hawk was due to replace the Cold War-vintage U-2 spy plane in 2015, but those planes, built by Lockheed Martin, would now remain in service until around 2023, the U.S. official said.

The planes have been used over Iraq and Afghanistan and Libya. They also were used over Japan after the March earthquake, flying from Andersen AFB, Guam, and have been used to track forest fires in California.

© 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Photo: a Northrop Global Hawk

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/g ... _2012_p0-417750.xml路透社消息，为了完成未来5年的4千8百亿美元军费预算缩减计划，美国空军日前决定忍痛割爱，砍掉全球鹰高空无人侦察机计划，而将依赖“更加划算”的U-2高空侦察机，并称U-2将能服役至2023年。

然而全球鹰的开发商诺思罗普公司并不甘心，并已计划将全球鹰的改版推销给美国海军。

The U.S. Air Force has decided to scrap its Northrop Grumman high-altitude unmanned surveillance plane program and instead extend the life of its U-2 aircraft into the 2020s, according to a government official and a defense analyst.

Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Virginia-based Lexington Institute, said the Air Force decision was based on the cost of the Global Hawk unmanned planes, and that the service would investigate using a Marine version with different sensors that Northrop is developing for the Navy.

The Northrop drone is one of dozens of weapons programs that face cancellation or cutbacks in the Pentagon’s fiscal 2013 budget and five-year plan, which begins to implement $487 billion in spending cuts over the next decade.

A U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said the Air Force’s Block 30 variant of the unmanned plane was being terminated in the budget request that will be sent to Congress Feb. 13.

Lawmakers have the final say over the Pentagon’s budget, and have reversed other program cancellations in the past.

An Air Force spokeswoman declined to comment.

Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz told Reuters earlier this month that the service’s budget proposal for fiscal 2013 would include terminations of some programs.

He declined comment at the time about the Global Hawk program, saying the service would likely “end up doing what gives us the best capability for the least cost.”

The remotely piloted Global Hawk surveillance planes fly at altitudes above 60,000 feet and can remain in the air for over 24 hours.

The Block 30 airframes sell for roughly $30 million apiece, not including their payloads. Raytheon’s optical, infrared and radar sensors let the aircraft scan large swaths of terrain and transmit images in near real-time.

The Global Hawk was due to replace the Cold War-vintage U-2 spy plane in 2015, but those planes, built by Lockheed Martin, would now remain in service until around 2023, the U.S. official said.

The planes have been used over Iraq and Afghanistan and Libya. They also were used over Japan after the March earthquake, flying from Andersen AFB, Guam, and have been used to track forest fires in California.

© 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Photo: a Northrop Global Hawk

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/g ... _2012_p0-417750.xml