Global Hawk flies with OMS architecture
Northrop Grumman has successfully flown an Open Mission Systems (OMS) architecture on a NASA Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS).
The architecture implementation flight, which took place at Edwards Air Force Base, demonstrated the ability to quickly adapt new capabilities onto the UAS. The flight also confirmed the ability of the OMS to receive payload commands from ground operators and send subsystem status responses via a Ku SATCOM Beyond-Line-Of-Sight (BLOS) communications link.
The architecture allows for the integration of new payloads on the Global Hawk to meet mission and customer requirements. The OMS architecture will also be adapted and showcased on a manned aerial weapons system later in June.
NASA's Global Hawks are pre-production RQ-4 Global Hawks, with the ability to fly for over 30 hours and up to 60,000ft. Global Hawk variants have been used in disaster relief, antiterrorism, antipiracy, humanitarian assistance, and other missions.
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