Navy and Air Force Global Hawk-based unmanned aircraft system (UAS) program officials have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to streamline their joint acquisition processes, according to the Navy. The MoA, signed Aug. 28, strengthens the services’ efforts to leverage development, production, sustainment and upgrade efforts for the RQ-4- based programs managed by the Air Force’s 303rd Aeronautical Systems Group (303 AESG) Global Hawk program and the Navy’s Persistent Maritime UAS Program Office (PMA-262) which manages the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) UAS RQ-4N program, the Navy said.
Northrop Grumman [NOC] builds Global Hawk.
“This agreement allows the Navy and Air Force to continue pursuing common objectives across the RQ-4 enterprise while retaining each service’s unique missions and operational requirements,” Navy Capt. Bob Dishman, program manager for PMA-262, said.
Air Force program officials also touted the benefits of the agreement.
“The Air Force and Navy have a synergistic relationship between their respective programs, which employ the RQ-4,” Steve Amburgey, program manager for the Air Force Global Hawk program, said. “We believe this MoA promotes cost savings, eliminates redundancies and gives U.S. taxpayers the best procurement value.
“It paves the way for us to share a wide range of data and other information that will help us ensure program effectiveness and help contractors succeed at enhanced quality and on-time delivery,” Amburgey added.
The Navy and Air Force program have an established collaborative relationship formed during execution of the Navy’s Global Hawk Maritime Demonstration, according to program officials. The services have flown joint missions, shared parts and other equipment and, through another formal agreement, conducted testing for Global Hawk Block 10 aircraft, the Navy said.
“We have proven success in leveraging efficiencies with the Block 10 systems,” Dishman said. “Now, with the establishment of the RQ-4 as the basis for the BAMS UAS program, we look to further advance these synergies to deliver unprecedented capability to the warfighter.”