NATO signed a contract with Northrop Grumman [NOC] on Sunday to buy five Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles for high altitude intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance during the alliance summit in Chicago.
The Global Hawks are designed to operate in the NATO’s Alliance Ground Surveillance program expected to become operational in 2017 and will be available to all 28 member nations, the NATO said.
“The signature of the procurement contract for the AGS system is an important step towards the delivery of this key capability to the alliance,” Alexander Vershbow, the American deputy secretary general of NATO, said in a statement. “It will move us from consultations to implementation. From an idea to a program. From a paper on our desk to a capability operating at an altitude of 60,000 feet.”
Thirteen countries are participating in the acquisition of five Global Hawk systems that will be operated by NATO on behalf of the entire alliance.
The Global Hawks will be primarily stationed at Sigonella Air Base in Italy, which will serve a dual purpose as a NATO Joint Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (JISR) deployment base and data exploitation and training center, NATO said.
Northrop Grumman said the contract is for the Block 40 versions of Global Hawk and includes initial operations and maintenance. European companies will be responsible for development and delivery of transportable ground stations for in-theater support directly to commanders of deployed forces, mobile ground stations for close support to moving operations, and remote workstations for higher echelon commands, Northrop Grumman said.