Page 6 - Aerotech News and Review, September 3, 2021

The Aerospace Valley is a leader in UAV world

by Larry Grooms Mirage on July 3, 1994, the company production and testing has been car-
special to Aerotech News embarked on a continuing series of ried out at Boeing’s facilities in and
refinements and upgraded mission near St. Louis, Boeing’s industry was
With three American and one An- capabilities culminating in a series strengthened by the Aug. 30, 2018
glo-American company representing of newly numbered variations and Navy award to Boeing of an $805
the top four on a list of the world’s names, including Reaper and Aveng- million contract for four MQ-25A
seven largest makers of military un- er. models to be completed by August
manned aerial vehicles, it might come Although intended as a stealthy 2024.
as no surprise to learn each of four spy in the sky, the military quick- More recently, on June 4, 2021, an
leaders has a major presence in South- ly found interest in upgrading the MQ-25 T1 refueled a Navy F/A-18 at
ern California’s Aerospace Valley. new drone to pack AGM-114 Hell- MidAmerica Airport in Illinois. It was
The rankings, appearing in a 2019- fire missiles and other munitions. the first ever aerial refueling in which
20 article written by Sudeep Cha- The beefed-up Predators were a piloted aircraft was refueled by an
kavafty and published online by the slow and quiet in sneaking up on unmanned tanker.
business financial consulting firm targets that never heard the missile The Navy also recently gave Lock-
Market Reports, listed the seven in hitting at supersonic speed. heed Martin the go-ahead on building
descending order: Between 1995 and 2018, General a ground control station for the MQ-
• General Atomics Aeronautical Atomics delivered well over 400 25, not just for cyber protection but
Systems Inc. UAVs to customers worldwide. The Northrop Grumman photograph to have the architecture for the Joint
• Northrop Grumman Corporation company is currently in process of Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk. All-Domain Command and Control
• The Boeing Company renewing its conditional land use concept.
• BAE Systems permit for the Grey Butte Airport lance and reconnaissance information. bilities to help the U.S. Navy extend The Navy will rely on multiple
• Israel Aerospace Industries (ISA) where nearly all its UAVs are flight- Flying at altitudes greater than 60,000 the range of the carrier air wing. communications links to control and
• Dassault Aviation SA. tested. Recently the company asked feet for more than 30 hours, Global And among the leading contributors execute missions for the MQ-25. The
• Nexter Systems for regional community support for Hawk is designed to gather near-real- aligned with Boeing’s industry team system will include the Lockheed
time, high-resolution imagery of large is U.K.-based BAE Systems, with of- Martin Mobile User Objective Sat-
areas of land in all types of weather
— day or night.
In active operation with the U.S.
Air Force since 2001, the High Al-
titude, Long Endurance (HALE}
System allows customers to select
mission parameters custom-fitted
into a common RQ-4 Global Hawk
airframe, with names to match the
missions for land or sea, search and
rescue, weather forecasting or envi-
ronmental research.
Global Hawk amassed more than
320,000 flight hours with missions
General Atomics – Aeronautical Systems photograph flown in support of military op-
The GA-ASI Avenger in flight. erations in Iraq, Afghanistan, North
Africa, and the greater Asia-Pacific
region. The system provides an af-
General Atomics Aeronautical renewal of the permit which is re- fordable and flexible platform for
Systems viewed every 20 years. multiple sensor payloads to be used Boeing photograph by Kate Lowry
San Diego-based General Atomics together, delivering mission-critical
Aeronautical Systems, with flight test Global Hawk information to various users around Boeing’s MQ-25 T1 test asset refuels a U.S. Navy E-2D command and control
aircraft Aug. 18, 2021, during a flight test mission conducted from MidAmerica
facilities at Grey Butte Airport near Northrop Grumman’s manufactur- the world. St. Louis Airport. The flight followed the historic June 4 refueling of a Navy
Palmdale in Los Angeles County, and ing operations, occupying about 85 F/A-18, the first time an unmanned aircraft had refueled another aircraft.
at El Mirage Airport and Adelanto in percent of all the buildings on Air MQ-25 Stingray & Autonomous
San Bernardino County, introduced Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, produces Systems
the remotely piloted Predator for aer- the RQ-4 Global Hawk family of un- Boeing’s MQ-25 Defense Systems fices and facilities at Mojave Air and ellite for Over-the-Horizon Control.
ial reconnaissance in the early 1990s manned aircraft systems to provide Industry Team is all-in on deliver- Space Port. Initial operational capability for
After the first Predator flight at El long duration intelligence, surveil- ing aerial refueling and other capa- The bulk of MQ-25 development, the MQ-25A is slated for 2025.

TPS graduates first ‘production’ Space Test Fundamentals Class

by Giancarlo Casem also met with various mission partners industry leaders.
Edwards AFB, Calif. The guest speaker for the ceremony was Space Force Col. Michael
Hopkins, a NASA astronaut. He most currently served as commander
The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, on the Crew-1 Space-X Crew Dragon spacecraft. His prior experience
Calif., graduated the newest class of Space Test Fundamentals profes- includes graduating from TPS as a flight test engineer and he also
sionals during a ceremony at base theater, Aug. 20, 2021. served at the 418th Flight Test Squadron at Edwards AFB.
STF Class 21-2 finished a three-month long course and dubbed He remarked that the total number of STF graduates is only 32, a
themselves the first “production” class in reference to an aircraft’s small number that makes them rare and unique, he said.
development and procurement cycle with STF Class 21-1 as the “You now have a unique talent and skill set,” Hopkins said.
“prototype.”
“We are excited to continue to develop and evolve the course to “Unique not only for Space for and the Army, but for the U.S. mili-
meet the United States Space Force’s needs to produce adaptive, tary as a whole…When you take your backgrounds and you take
critical-thinking test professionals to conduct full-spectrum test and these test fundamentals that you learned and put them together, that
evaluation of space weapons systems,” said Col. Sebrina Pabon, Test results in a very unique cadre that has an extremely important role to
Pilot School commandant. play … for our nation.”
The three-month program leverages world-class USAF TPS ex- He urged to graduates to not lose sight of that fact and underplay
pertise and is designed to provide hands-on training in flight-test their accomplishments.
fundamentals, systems test, space science application, advanced space “Your work’s not done, not even close,” Hopkins added. “As you
system test and evaluation, and broad exposure to the foremost cen- go back to your units, share the knowledge that you gained with your Air Force photograph by Katherine Franco
ters of space operations and testing. colleagues. Take a look at the legacy systems that you operate on and Space Force Maj. Justin Fisk, Space Test Fundamentals Course
Throughout the course, a variety of case studies, guest lectures, and think back: ‘if I applied these test fundamentals that we’ve learned 21-2 class leader, provides his remarks during his class’s
site visits were utilized to learn from those currently operating in the had been applied when these jobs or these vehicles were new, would graduation ceremony at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Aug.
space environment and those who have paved the way. The students they be different?’” 20, 2021.

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