Empire Challenge 2011

Image: Northrop Firebird OPV

Empire Challenge (EC) is an annual joint and multinational live intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) interoperability demonstration sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Intelligence (USD/I). EC showcases emerging ISR capabilities and provides vital lessons learned to improve joint and combined ISR interoperability to support warfighters at the tactical edge. EC 11 will be conducted May 23 - June 3, with a focus on near-term capabilities that can be delivered rapidly to the warfighter.
Northrop Grumman is planning to publicly unveil its new and to showcase the use of up to four payloads – including high-definition full-motion video, electro-optical/infrared sensors, electronic support/direction finding and a communications relay — simultaneously on Firebird. The company plans to land, reconfigure the sensor payload and launch a new sortie within an hour. Northrop Grumman aspires to challenge General Atomics that dominate the US large UAV market with their Predator B systems.

Global Hawk over Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant

Credit: Northrop Grumman

According to a Japanese government source the U.S. military will operate a Global Hawk unmanned high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft over Fukushima nuclear power plant, possibly on Thursday, to take a closer look at its troubled reactors. Photographs taken by the plane equipped with infrared sensors could provide a useful clue to what is occurring inside the reactor buildings, around which high-level radiation has been detected.

Credit: Digitalglobe: Fukushima Dai-ichi March 16,2011

The Global Hawk is able to provide high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)—that can penetrate cloud-cover and sandstorms— and Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) imagery at long range with long loiter times over target areas. It can survey as much as 40,000 square miles (100,000 square kilometers) of terrain a day. Missions for the Global Hawk cover the spectrum of intelligence collection capability to support forces in worldwide peace, crisis, and wartime operations.