Predecessor: Lockheed
Martin D-21 Drone
Successor: Northrop
Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk
During the Cold War, tension between the Soviet Union and
the United States was high. Because of increasingly high tension and the need
for a strong, vigilant military operation in the U.S. was eminent. Research and
development on military systems, especially aircraft used for intelligence and reconnaissance
missions, was booming. On May 1st, 1960, Gary Powers was flying a
U-2 spy plane over Russia and was shot down. Known simply as the “U-2 Incident”,
the loss of this recon pilot sent a clear message to the U.S. and the
Eisenhower administration. From there on, manned flights over Russia and China
were banned.
Kelly Johnson, the head of Lockheed Martin’s “Skunk Works”
team had already been considering the idea of drones mounted on an A-12(Blackbird)-like
aircraft, the M-21 (“M” for mother) (Unmanned Aerial Systems, Blom, 2010). From
here, the D-21 (“D” for daughter) drone was born. The drone would be mounted to
an SR-71 Blackbird, and subsequently detach and fly at Mach 3 at 90,000 ft. It
would follow a pre-determined route, gather the footage desired and eject the
hatch containing the film (later to be retrieved), and then self-destruct. The
Air Force successfully completed 3 launches from an SR-71, however,
unfortunately on the 4th launch the drone collided with the SR-71
and resulted in a loss of both the aircraft and the pilot. From there on out,
the Air Force used B-52s for launching the D-21 (Blom, p.65). In 1971, a D-21
disappeared over China and was never recovered. Although there was no evidence
that the Chinese tracked the drone, President Nixon decided to shut down the
D-21 program and destroy all tooling involved in attempts to improve relations
with China.
Today, Northrop Grumman has developed the RQ-4 Global Hawk.
This Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is a high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE),
remotely piloted aircraft. It is capable of all-weather, day or night
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. Although the D-21
could fly at altitudes of up to 100,000 feet, the RQ-4 has a max altitude of
60,000 ft (Global Hawk, USAF, 2014). Unlike the D-21’s one-way system, the RQ-4
once programmed can autonomously “taxi, take-off, fly, remain on station
capturing imagery, return and land” (RQ-4 Global Hawk, Northrop Grumman, 2008).
A ground-based operations crew and re-task the UAV and monitor its systems
remotely. The Global Hawk provides capabilities to the warfighter that are
unmatched. This amazing piece of equipment also provides these amazing capabilities
on the homefront in the form of homeland security, border/coastal patrols and
disaster relief missions (Northrop Grumman).
Resources:
Blom, John David. (2010). Unmanned Aerial Systems: a
historical perspective. (Occasional paper; 37). Retrieved from: http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/download/csipubs/OP37.pdf
Northrop Grumman. (2008). RQ-4 Global Hawk Fact Sheet.
Retrieved from: http://www.northropgrumman.com/capabilities/rq4block20globalhawk/documents/hale_factsheet.pdf
United States Air Force. (2014). RQ-4 Global Hawk. Retrieved
from: http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/FactSheets/Display/tabid/224/Article/104516/rq-4-global-hawk.aspx
