The US Air Force has received the first RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS) at Grand Forks Air Force Base (AFB), North Dakota, US.

The arrival of the UAS, built by Northrop Grumman, establishes Grand Forks AFB as the second main operating base in the US military operation after Beale AFB.

The Block 40 Global Hawks are equipped with the Northrop AN/ZPY-2 Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program sensor, which simultaneously uses synthetic aperture radar imaging while tracking mobile targets.

The RQ-4 Global Hawk can fly for more than 32 hours per sortie at speeds of 340kts and meets the requirement for continuous intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.