Air Force Still Plans To Buy Some Global Hawks

The Air Force will continue to buy a new specialized version of the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft despite plans announced yesterday by the Defense Department to cancel older versions and use manned U-2s instead, Air Force Chief of Staff Norton Schwartz told reporters today.

Schwartz said the Air Force will continue to buy Global Hawks equipped with a type of radar gizmo known as the Ground Moving Target Indicator, which is able to eyeball moving vehicles, a capability the U2 lacks. He did not say how many Global Hawks with the Ground Moving Target Indicator the Air Force intends to buy.

Schwartz indicated the older versions -- roughly 20 aircraft -- will probably end up in the "boneyard," an outdoor storage area at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., where they will be maintained in a way that they can be used again quickly.

When the Air Force started development of the Global Hawk, Schwartz said the service thought it would be cheaper to buy, operate and maintain them than the U-2. "In reality, the Global Hawk is not less expensive to operate [than the U-2]," he said, nor is it as capable either.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said yesterday that the Global Hawk had "priced itself out of the niche for taking pictures from the air."