Northrop Grumman Unveils New GlobalHawk

Northrop Grumman unveiled their latest version of the RQ-4 GlobalHawk UAV last Thursday, June 25, at their Palmdale, California manufacturing facility. The Block 40 GlobalHawk is designed specifically around the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) system which has been in developmental flight test at the Mojave Air & Space Port for the past three years. The new system is expected to provide the next generation of Ground Moving Target Indication (GMTI) imagery to the soldiers on the ground.

George Guerra, Northrop Grumman VP of HALE systems and Site Manager (above, right) stated, “GMTI is in such a huge demand today, and this aircraft will provide it.” Northrop Grumman Strike and Surveillance Systems Division Vice President Gerard Dufresne said this system “will provide a game-changing situational awareness to our war fighters.”

Northrop Grumman has been testing three developmental MP-RTIP units on Scaled Composites’ unique Proteus high altitude research aircraft at Mojave since 2006. According to Guerra, Mojave-based Proteus was used as “it gives us an advantage because it flies to 50,000 feet, so it’s pretty close to simulating the GlobalHawk environment. So, from a risk mitigation [point of view], it was a good way to get an early peek at how the system would perform at altitude.”

The MP-RTIP system is designed to be modular and scalable, with additional modules being added for installation on larger aircraft. Guerra described it, “it’s like a window, the bigger the window, the more you can see.” Originally, a larger MP-RTIP was intended to be installed on the proposed Air Force E-10, a modified Boeing 767-400ER, however that program was cancelled in 2007, and Boeing sold the prototype airframe to a customer in Bahrain, who had it converted to VIP configuration. Discussions are underway within in the Air Force, according to Guerra, to determine what will be the next large GMTI aircraft, and a scaled-up MP-RTIP is one of the possibilities being considered. However, there are no hard plans at this time to use MP-RTIP on any other platform besides GlobalHawk.

The first Block 40 aircraft, designated AF-18, is the 27th RQ-4 to be built, and the first of 15 that have been ordered by the Air Force. AF-18 will be flown to Edwards AFB in late July, where it will initially under envelope-expansion flight testing, due to changes in the airframe. In February 2010, the one of the three “developmental unit” radar systems will be modified from its Proteus configuration and mounted to AF-18 for the initial sensor integration flights. For a while, according to Guerra, Proteus will continue to be used for “different mode development work,” but ultimately the test program will be transitioned exclusively to GlobalHawk.

Current Air Force plans call for a total GlobalHawk fleet size of 54 aircraft, fifteen of which will be the Block 40 configuration. However, the service has also begun discussing increasing their fleet to a total of 77 aircraft, and there is expected to be some additional Block 40s in that number, according to Guerra. In addition, NATO is expected to order eight AGS aircraft.

While the Block 40 configuration represents the latest in GlobalHawk technological development, it certainly isn’t the culmination of the program. The German-partnered EuroHawk , which is based on the Block 20 configuration, is slated for unveiling later this years, as is the NATO AGS version of the Block 40. In addition, Guerra said that there are talks underway within Northrop Grumman and the Air Force, as a part of a “Requirements Planning Working Group”, regarding additional sensors that would be installed on a “notional Block 50” aircraft. “I think you’ll see a Block 50 in the near future,” said Guerra.

To date, all versions of GlobalHawk combined have accounted for over 2,000 missions and 32,000 flight hours, 75% of which was in combat, while posting a 97% mission effectiveness.

Steve Amburgey, GlobalHawk Program Director for the 303rd Aeronautical Systems Group at Wright-Patterson AFB, thanked the “Palmdale production folks” for their work on the aircraft. “What you produce here is going to end up resulting in the saving of countless American lives,” he said. Northrop Grumman expects to keep production of the aircraft in the Antelope Valley.

Anniversary numbers

It's been a whole year now since Google Analytics started tracking the visitor numbers for Mojave Skies, and in that time GA has logged 55,987 unique visits with a total of 126,946 page views, from countries all around the world (in the map below, if the country is green, it means that someone from there visited the site in the last year - not a lot of white countries showing!). Not bad, for an online niche aviation publication! Many, many thanks to everyone who has visited, commented, helped out and especially encouraged this project.

WhiteKnightTwo Steals Show at Plane Crazy Saturday

For the June edition of Plane Crazy Saturday, the theme was "Wings and Wheels", and besides the usual warbirds and homebuilts that show off for the public, this time a couple of local car clubs came by to show off their gorgeous machines. Planes and cars...it was a great combination that drew lots of folks in to visit.

Steve Ericson showed up with his gorgeous Great Lakes 2T-1A-2.

I know there's got to be a story behind the F-22 "Raptor 17" sticker on this MiG-15...I've asked around, but no luck so far. If you know, please comment!

But, stealing the show, was Virgin Galactic WhiteKnightTwo VMS Eve. It wasn't, of course, a planned event. WK2 was supposed to do a fly-by yesterday, Friday, at the groundbreaking ceremony of SpacePort America in New Mexico. A funny thing happened on the way to Truth or Consequences, NM, however. A problem with a spoiler caused WK2's crew to have to divert to Phoenix's Williams-Gateway airport, where it spent last night. That put the return, by way of a substitute fly-by of Las Cruces, NM, right in the middle of Plane Crazy. It was almost too good to be true, and the combined hopes of the crowd that had gathered along the edge of the taxiway was realized as Pete Siebold piloted WK2 through a fly-by down Runway 26, right in front of us. Another fly-by down Runway 30, and a taxi past us, and it was instantly a day to remember...WK2's first airshow appearance. Mojave trumps Oshkosh (where the debut had been planned to take place).

There's nothing like flying one of the coolest planes ever made around the southwestern U.S. then coming home to a joyful daughter! Behind all the gee-whiz technology are real families . . . the heart of small-town Mojave is what gives Plane Crazy Saturdays its joyfulness.

Kids, F-16s, and WhiteKnightTwo high overhead...what better way to sum up the Mojave experience?

May's Plane Crazy Saturday Salutes Local EMS Providers

The May edition of Mojave's Plane Crazy Saturday celebrated the beginning of National EMS Week by saluting our local EMS air providers, the CHP and Mercy Air, as well as ground providers Hall Ambulance (Kern Co. Fire and Sheriff's departments were invited to bring their helicopters as well, but regrettably had to cancel).

Although the famous Chino airshow, also being held this weekend, seemed to reduce the number of aircraft attending this months event, the surprise attendee was TBM's 1957-model C-130A, ex-Tanker 64, which is now being used as a flight test aircraft (complete with 3-panel EFIS cockpit!).

Lastly, anyone wanna buy a slightly used Bellanca??

WK2 and the Media

Although blogs are often a place of editorializing, I don’t generally do that here, because Mojave Skies is more suited to be a source of news and information about the unique activities that take place at Mojave. But, today I’m making an exception, because of the way recent events have garnered world-wide media attention. 

I’m speaking, of course, about the tail strike that occurred at the end of the fourth test flight of Scaled Composites’ WhiteKnightTwo VMS Eve. After an envelope-pushing four-hour flight (the takeoff is pictured here), the crew of WK2 executed a touch-and-go in crosswind conditions when the aircraft experienced an asymmetric thrust condition, resulting in the bottom of the left rudder scraping the ground and a few moments of pilots truly earning their pay (hat’s off to Pete for such a fine job of airmanship).

What also resulted was a confluence of media attention that surprised many. Traditionally, Scaled Composites refrains from commenting publicly after test flights, a combination of their near-legendary secrecy and a desire to let their customer direct the material that the media receives. In this case, their customer is Virgin Galactic, which as part of the Virgin Group, has a reputation for stage-managing as much as possible any and all media coverage. As they’re in the business of selling tickets, they naturally want to maximize their efforts, and control all the forces that affect them.

The end product has been, up to the release of Scaled's statement, a lot of official silence, punctuated with the release of a couple of in-flight photos, a fluffy promo video, and continual pronouncements from Virgin’s Will Whitehorn that the program is progressing “flawlessly”. And yet, as the schedule slips further and further (Sir Richard pronounced in the media, not that long ago, that he expected to take his family into space in his new chariot in 2009), and structural changes appear on Eve, industry watchers, who are not exactly dummies when it comes to aerodynamics, scratch their heads and wonder what in the “flawless” program could be motivating such expensive and time-consuming design changes. The consequent media discussion let to, remarkably, a rather frank and detailed press release from Scaled explaining exactly what was going on. Such openness, at last, has resulted in “Bravos!” all around.

The toll has been regrettable. Lost in the hubbub has been what really is going on, which is that Rutan’s hard-working crew is laboring to hand-build a man-rated space launch system, and breaking new aviation design ground every step of the way. In such a learn-as-you go endeavor, there’s bound to be things that are first tried, then changed, then tried again. There is nothing wrong with that…that’s the basic world of flight test. I know from my own experiences, having once worked in this segment of aviation, that in the flight test industry, everyone lives by the concept of “lessons learned”, in which the goal of each flight is to learn more about the vehicle, its peculiarities and then to hone the design. “Lessons learned” is the frank evaluation of the results, good, bad and ugly, from each flight. In the Virgin Galactic program, we have the unique collision of the world of flight test, with its habits, and the Virgin world of promotional PR, with its habits. 

Maybe what could best come out of all of this, as Burt and Will sit clearly frustrated with the course of events outside of their control, is that the concept of “lessons learned” can be picked up by the PR folks over in the UK. And one of the most important lessons, it seems to me, is of the importance of openness in this new world of ours. If Virgin Galactic (and them specifically, since Scaled defers to the customer) had an on-site full-time media representative who was dually familiar with the world of flight test and the world of the media, who would hold periodic mini-press-teleconferences, who provided a frank review to the media of the results of each test flight, think of how much better this whole thing could have been handled. 

Customers and potential ticket-buyers would have that much more confidence that they are getting the straight scoop about the vehicle that they’re entrusting their lives to, the media would have real, accurate information to present to its viewers, and people in general would have a much better understanding of what goes into developing tomorrow’s aircraft today. Had such a person been in place and doing his or her job last week, every little bit of frustration that was experienced by the folks on both sides of the Atlantic would never have occurred. Such a lesson-learned about open communications would be to the vast benefit of all concerned.

As a side note to the media events, and maybe to get everyone back on track to appreciating the uniqueness of these aircraft, the occasion of the 4th test flight was the first time that I'm aware of that WK1 and WK2 were on the ramp at the same time, above. Also out, while WK2 was up flying, was Proteus, below, making for a very unique morning when all of Burt's big double-boom designs graced the Mojave flightline.

Mojave Plane Crazy Saturday Photos

This month's Plane Crazy Saturday was also tied in with the annual "Yuri's Night" festivities. This is a celebration of space achievement, typically held on April 12th, the day of Yuri Gagarin's launch as the first man into space, and also the date of the first Space Shuttle launch (for more info, visit http://yurisnight.net/). Representing Mojave's growing space development industry were XCOR Aerospace with several engines and their EZRocket, and Masten Space Systems displaying their rocket engine test stands. Right: XCOR's Aleta Jackson explains the concept of mach diamonds in a rocket's exhaust plume to a fascinated youngster.

Left:XCOR also makes really classy tables! Right: Masten's Ben Brockert explains some upcoming rocket engine testing that they will be doing for their X Prize Cup efforts.

Aleta Jackson kindly provided the two photos below. Left: "A young lad who wants to be a rocketship pilot poses by the EZ-Rocket." Right"A goodly representation of what happens at the Mojave Air and Space Port. Rockets, bi-planes, general aviation, a MiG, and the Nemisis NXT."

Left: Always a favorite is this stunning red Cessna 195 which lives at the nearby private Ancient Valley airport. Right: Hollywood aerial stunt coordinator Mike Patlin brought his latest student pilot and a gorgeous Siai-Marchetti SF-260C over.

Ronny and Paula Alldredge of Tehachapi brought down their gorgeously restored Beech T-34 Mentor for the first time. This plane was built in 1955 and served in the USAF before being transfered to the Indonesian Air Force in 1961. The Alldredges brought it back to the states in 1988 and did a wonderful job making it look new again.

An unexpected treat was the appearance of two Aero L-39s, which happened to arrive for lunch unaware that a public event was underway. 

Making it's first Plan Crazy Saturday appearance this month was Bob "Stambo" Stambovsky's ex-RAF BAC Mk5A Jet Provost, which was once based at Mojave, but now lives down at Fox Field.

After the crowds had headed home, Mojave warbird collector and restorer Al Hansen took the opportunity to do a few high-speed taxi runs and short hops in his latest rebuild project, a T-28 Trojan (which had been on display earlier in the day). Congrats, Al, that radial engine sure sounded good!

Cal City Recon

If you think the town of Mojave is out in the middle of nowhere, you've never been to the bustling metropolis of California City! Bypassed by both Hwys 14 and 58, Cal City is the home of a prison and not much more, so housing prices are some of the cheapest in all of southern California. The place does, however, have a pretty nifty airport, which is popular amongst the skydiving and gliding crowds. Here's a bit of an overview of the oddities to be found out there....

Below:Cal City is the base of operations for Baja Air, which operates a pair of DC-3s and a Cessna 414 in charter service down to Cabo.

Stuffed out behind some hangars on the east end of the airport are a bunch of what look like unfinished Curtis P-40 mockups, presumably from a movie set. If anyone has any information on the background of these, please leave a comment below! 

Cal City seems to have attracted more than its fair share of Fouga Magisters. The one above is marked "221", while the flyable ones, below, are (from top): N315VB, N315MB and N355F. (These shots are posted specifically for my Fouga friends in Finland!)

Completing the collection of the odd and forlorn are a Convair HC-131 sitting in a trailer park (the FAA shows it being registered to the "California Museum of Air and Space") and a rather dusty Yak 52.

Lastly, while leaving Mojave, I grabbed a shot of the Fun Bird for my good friends at Aloha!