
The U.S. Air Force is weighing the timelines for the retirement of Block 40 RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance drones by Northrop Grumman [NOC] and the fielding of a classified replacement system. The Air Force Global Hawk fleet has consisted of four Block 20 RQ-4s, 20 Block 30s and 10 Block 40 aircraft. The service received congressional approval in fiscal 2021 to retire the Block 20s and is asking Congress to allow the service to divest the Block 30s in fiscal…