The Global Hawk control complex will be complemented by the “periphery”: will the reconnaissance drone become a “stratospheric hunter”?
By the beginning of August 2016, the total time spent by the fleet of unmanned strategic reconnaissance aircraft of the RQ-4C family in test flights and air reconnaissance operations exceeded 200 thousand hours, which is more than 22,8 years. This was announced at the end of July by the company-developer and manufacturer of high-altitude strategic drone Northrop Grumman. From a height of more than 18,5 km, dozens of vehicles of various modifications and “blocks” have scanned about a billion square kilometers of land and sea surfaces in the most significant geostrategic regions of the planet over the past 15 years since they received initial combat readiness. The most “fruitful” for the United States missions of the Global Hawks traditionally take place within the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, where the US Navy and Air Force closely monitor the actions of the Chinese Navy in the South China and East China Seas, and also monitor the trend in the development of coastal lines Air defense and missile defense of the Middle Kingdom.
Equipped with a powerful side-looking radar (BO) with AFAR AN / ZPY-2 MP-RTIP with a scanning range of 200 km and synthetic aperture mode Drones "Global Hawk" is capable of conducting high-altitude aerial surveillance over the territory where the enemy operates for 30-33 hours. Modifications for the US Navy MQ-4C "Triton" have not only a more modern airborne radar AN / ZPY-3 MP-RTIP, but also a powerful optoelectronic sighting / sighting system AN / DAS-3 EO / IR, operating in infrared and television channels. But in view of the world entering a new era of global confrontation and network-centric wars, the American companies Raytheon and Northrop Grumman were instructed to carry out a deep modernization of the hardware base and software of strategic intelligence control systems.
The cost of the modernization contract is estimated at about 104 million. According to the "Military Parity" with reference to Western sources, the Global Hawk command and control points should receive an electronic element base with an open architecture, a similar update awaits the UAVs themselves. This will allow the RQ-4C, and then the MQ-4C to take on board "various types of payloads". The sources do not report exactly what kind of loads, but from the practice of using the Predator family UAV, it is even logically possible to conclude that a strategic strike and reconnaissance drone is created on the basis of the Global Hawk, which can carry out reconnaissance without risking the life of the operator , but also to deliver point strikes at a distance of up to 5000 km without refueling.
So, on the advertisement sheet of the company “Northrop Grumman”, the tactical and technical characteristics of the UAV RQ-4 Block 40 are shown, among which the payload in 1360 kg is indicated. This allows you to place a variety of high-precision weapons on the basal wing areas and on the side surfaces of the fuselage. So, in the drone avionics can be integrated control system of such weapons as AGM-84H SLAM-ER with a range of 270 km. This tactical long-range cruise missile can be equipped with a specialized split warhead consisting of several self-aiming combat elements (SPBE) BAT (“Brilliant Anti-Tank”), which can destroy ground armored vehicles and other enemy objects with high efficiency using acoustic sensors. , not equipped with active protection complexes and not covered by means of reducing infrared radiation and military air defense.
The SLAM-ER rocket itself is also equipped with an infrared homing head, which has an automatic ATA target locking system. When approaching the target of the onboard computer for rocket launcher, the previously obtained pattern is compared with a digital photograph of the target with an image on the infrared matrix, and produces a clear selection. If the priority of the targets changes during the AGM-84H flight, the operator can adjust the target designation already on approach. Such equipment of two-way communication with the missile can be installed on board Global Hawk and Triton in a matter of days, turning the reconnaissance drone also into a sophisticated stratospheric killer. The AN / ZPY-2 MP-RTIP radar belongs to complexes capable of targeting independently, due to which it does not need to target any third-party reconnaissance devices to perform the “Global Hawk” air operation.
The basis of the RQ-4 Block 40 strategic unmanned reconnaissance complex is an X-band multifunctional radar with AFAR and AN / ZPY-2 MP-RTIP synthetic aperture mode. A high-potential radar is mounted on a drum rotating on a roll axis, mounted on a special intra-body suspension, thanks to which, in just a few seconds, the station pattern can be shifted to the opposite side
There is also the technical possibility of deploying more long-range missiles, for example, AGM-158B missiles. These subtle tactical missiles can attack the enemy in a radius of up to 1200 km. Thus, the RQ / MQ-4 turn into strategic missile carriers for a local point strike.
The latest modifications of the RQ-4 "Global Hawk" and the MQ-4C "Triton" - expensive pleasure. The price of one car can be about 150 - 170 million dollars, which is equivalent to the inconspicuous promising F-22A Raptor fighter. And therefore their losses are not included in the agenda of the Navy and Air Force Command. Even today, the plans of the military departments and Northrop may include the idea of equipping the drone with a defensive anti-missile system based on the “gas-dynamic” super-maneuverable SACM-T interceptors (previously known as CUDA), capable of eliminating enemy long-range anti-aircraft guided missiles and air-launched missiles. -air "kinetic destruction of their combat equipment by the method of" hit-to-kill ".
At the moment, preparatory work is underway to update the hardware of the ground control station of the MCE drone stations (Mission Control Element.) The installation of a two-way data exchange module with new “peripheral” devices on the drone and the installation of new interfaces for displaying these devices on the automated workstations of operators MCE. It is likely that already by 2025, our and Chinese specialists will have to look for new methods of confronting these dangerous autonomous machines coming from the dark distance of near space.
Information sources:
http://bastion-karpenko.ru/rq-4-global-hawk/
http://forum.militaryparitet.com/viewtopic.php?id=8318
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