Procurement: February 9, 2004

Archives

Australia is buying a dozen U.S. RQ-4A Global Hawk UAVs for over $70 million each. This is a sharp increase in cost from the current cost of $35 million. The current Global Hawk has a large number of sensors on it, including a video camera that gives high resolution pictures with 12 inch resolution (objects a foot across can be identified.) A Global Hawk crossed the Pacific, from the West Coast of the United States to Australia, in 2001. The entire trip was programmed in the aircraft's navigation computer before take-off. Australia has vast coastal frontiers to watch, plus a huge, empty interior that often has to be watched for enormous bush fires. The first Australian Global Hawk will enter service in 2009. 


 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close