Global Hawk demonstrates new CMMS
Northrop Grumman has successfully demonstrated new unmanned aircraft system (UAS) mission management control features with the RQ-4 Global Hawk, the company announced on 11 August.
During multiple long-endurance, high-altitude demonstrations, the Global Hawk UAS quickly responded to external requests to significantly change its flight route and sensor functionality, breaking the one-user to one-vehicle paradigm. The demonstrations verified that the UAS can integrate advanced mission management capability without making any changes to the air vehicle software.
Michael Leahy, program director, control mission management system (CMMS), Northrop Grumman, said: ‘Northrop Grumman's CMMS team is proud to contribute to the standardisation of command and control (C2) systems for multiple UAS.
‘Our customers' advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance requirements call for modern ground control systems based on emerging standards that can be used across air vehicle platforms – that's what we strive to deliver.’
The demonstration, which supported the US Air Force's Common Mission Control Center (CMCC) programme, used the UAS C2 Initiative (UCI) message set for communication between the UAS and the CMCC. The UCI message set is an upcoming standard that supports interoperability across multiple weapon systems.
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