Global Hawk enables advanced operations

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Melissa Koskovich
  • U.S. Central Command Air Forces-Forward Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (ACCNS) --  Battlefield awareness has recently increased to unsurpassed levels, with Global Hawk production-model aircraft now flying in the U.S. Central Command Air Forces theater.

Reaching a breakthrough point in April, the Global Hawk team has maximized the aircraft’s sorties, collecting more than 96 percent of the target deck – nearly five thousand images of enemy locations, resources and personnel.

The Global Hawk, surveying large geographic areas with pinpoint accuracy and giving military commanders near real-time information, has proven its worth in recent operations, said Capt. Ty Gilbert, Senior Intelligence Duty Officer at the Combined Air Operations Center here.

“With the Global Hawk, we are seeing today the capabilities we’ve talked about in the past,” he said.

In 2003, a test-model Global Hawk was sent to the theater with officials expecting it to fly for only five hundred hours. Instead, the aircraft flew close to five thousand.

With its multiple sensors and ability gather vast amounts of imagery, the Global Hawk brings a welcome dimension to Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance operations.

“What’s unique about the Global Hawk in comparison to other ISR platforms is the persistence it offers in providing imagery and intelligence,” said Maj. Ricky Thomas, Global Hawk platform liaison officer at the Combined Air Operations Center here. 

With the ability to loiter for up to 24 hours, the aircraft can monitor the whole theater with few limitations.

“We don’t have to have a black line; we can go wherever the images are needed,” Major Thomas said.

In addition to the platform’s ISR capabilities, its flexibility is another key to the Global Hawk’s battlefield success.

“The Global Hawk allows commanders to rapidly re-task the aircraft in flight. Recently in Afghanistan, we had an aircraft crash,” said Major Thomas. “By the time notifications of the crash were received, the Global Hawk in the air at the time put an image of the crash site in the hands of the individuals planning the rescue.”

“It includes everyone from the maintenance technicians to the intelligence exploiters,” said Major Thomas. “The entire team has to be working together at all cylinders to have operations reach the levels of success we’ve recently seen.”

The Global Hawk team is only one aspect of the overall effort to ensure complete battlespace awareness.

“Air power comes in all different flavors,” said Captain Gilbert. “ISR is the flavor that we offer, and the Global Hawk is a key element in providing that punch for the war fighter.”