
The Air Force has received Defense Department approval to update its fleet of RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft, prime contractor Northrop Grumman [NOC] announced May 5.The Milestone C decision allows the Air Force to proceed with various modernization activities included in its fiscal year 2016 budget request, said John VanBrabant, Northrop Grumman business development director for high-altitude, long-endurance systems. For the Block 30 variant, for instance, those activities include “mission planning development and testing, enhanced weather capability development and testing,…