If the agreement between Italy and the United States on the super-drones goes back about two years ago, to announce the arrival of the drones in Sigonella was William Fraser, head of Air Combat Command at the Pentagon, explaining that times coincide with a similar deployment in the island of Guam, U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean, and the primary purpose and endeavor to "support the operations of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan."
The RQ-4 Global Hawk is not armed - unlike the Predator - and are considered the most advanced spy planes in the arsenal of the Pentagon in the fifties by the realization dell'U2 to oversee the former Soviet Union. Each sample has an estimated cost of about $ 183 million and have sensors that can identify any moving target - in the sky, land and sea - within a radius of 100 km transmitting on the ground very sharp images of any type of surface regardless of time of day and weather conditions. Autonomy of 42 hours, within 25,928 kilometers and futuristic instruments - whose origin is one of the best-kept secrets by Darpa, the research laboratory of the Pentagon - allow each Global Hawk to patrol at least 100 000 sq km every 24 hours with the possibility for the military to guide them from the ground to analyze the data collected in real time, being able to decide whether to continue or modify the flight plan original.
So far, the main basis of the super-drone was that of Edwards, Calif., where to reach Afghanistan through Canada and across the Pacific and headed for the Indian Ocean, but if you have Guam and Sigonella operations are greatly eases, allowing you to shorten the flight time, facilitating the work of maintenance and especially by increasing the observation area, which can now extend to much of the planet.
The operation has just begun to Sigonella is scheduled to take place in stages. The first arrivals of Global Hawk to initiate a testing phase after which it will for the rest of the squadron, later, to be followed by aircraft with a capacity of not only electronic but also observation of the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node or instrumentation able to communicate with their troops during military operations. The test phase, which will develop in the coming weeks, will serve to improve the links between the two drones and ground stations built into the base: the MCE and the LRE, which are divided responsibilities command and control, mission planning, sensor operation and communications.
The Global Hawk were constructed from Northop Grumman, whose Vice-President George Guerra ensure that "our intention is to regularly fly the drones from Sigonella and Guam since the end of this year," thus allowing the Pentagon to " able to operate anywhere in the world ", ie not only to support the troops engaged in ongoing conflicts but also to observe the different scenarios: from the movements of suspected Al Qaeda cells in Yemen in the activities of pirates in the waters of the Horn ' Africa, the illegal traffic crossing the Sahel to the movement vessels suspected of carrying prohibited materials to or from Iran and North Korea. Among the qualities of unmanned aircraft based in Sigonella fact, there is also the ability to monitor maritime traffic, allowing you to strengthen security in the Mediterranean.
To get an idea of \u200b\u200bthe wide range of operations that can be implemented, for example, in the last 24 months, the Pentagon's use of Global Hawk also for monitoring the damage caused by the earthquake on the island of Haiti and to support the fight drug trafficking in Latin America. This means that in the operations room was built in Sigonella will feed information, images and sounds related to what happens on the main scenarios of crisis and implied for the Pentagon to consolidate the strategic alliance relationship with our country. "Having chosen to Sigonella Global Hawks indicate the U.S. determination to maintain a visible presence not only in the Eastern Mediterranean, but far beyond," said Dov Zakheim, a former deputy chief of the Pentagon. Hence the surprise that leaked from military circles in Washington, for the low profile so far demonstrated by the Italian authorities have emphasized that the arrival of the drones.
Maurizio Molinari
Source: http://www.lastampa.it
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