Flight control problems prompted an emergency landing of USAF Global Hawk air vehicle 9 shortly after midnight May 28, officials at Edwards AFB, Calif., say.
The Northrop Grumman-made UAS is said to have experienced a hard landing, and is now sitting at the Rogers Lake Bed adjacent to the air field at Edwards.
source: Northrop Grumman
AV-9 is one of the Block 20 configuration Global Hawks, which is a larger model than the Block 10s used for the advanced concept technology demonstration program. The Block 20/30, which is now being tested at Edwards, is one step in the UAS's path to eventually assume the role of the high-flying U-2 spy aircraft.
Air Force officials haven't yet said whether the damage to the aircraft was enough to declare it a Class A mishap. However, there is damage to the right wing and landing gear, service officials said.
"Pilots performed a unique series of flight control maneuvers and managed to land the aircraft on the lakebed," says a press release issued May29 after Aviation Week submitted queries about the incident. "Pilots were able to maintain the UAS's structural integrity and spare its ISR mission systems."
The Block 20 was likely carrying the Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suite (EISS), a Raytheon-made EO/IR payload.
Sources familiar with the incident said the aircraft may have been conducting overweight landing tests; Air Force officials haven't yet disclosed the nature of the test sortie during which the incident occurred.
This is hardly the most dramatic in-flight emergency for the young UAS program. Earlier during testing of the Block 10, a Global Hawk conducted what appeared to be a standard self destruct sequence to the surprise of operators. They later discovered a radio tower at another base was testing its transmissions using a self-destruct code for the UAS. Though they were geographically separated, the UAS flies high enough -- around 65,000 ft. -- that the aircraft picked up the signal and followed orders, plummeting to its death. Needless to say, the testers at least got some data from that incident.
Meanwhile, at the Pentagon May 29, Ashton Carter, the new acquisition czar, conducted a Defense Acquisition Board review of the program. The review is part of a series of meetings required to establish a new initial operational test and evaluation schedule for the Block 20/30 Global Hawk. It was supposed to conduct IOT&E August - November, but that has been delayed.
A new schedule hasn't yet been released.
