Euro Hawk has successfully proved its long endurance capability with a 30.3-hour flight over Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Built by Northrop Grumman and EADS Deutschland, operating through Cassidian, the defence and security division of EADS, the high-flying UAS took off Dec. 1 at 4:47 p.m. PST and landed Dec. 2 at approximately 10:59 p.m. PST.

"Soaring up to 60,000 feet, the Euro Hawk performed beautifully and has logged nearly 100 total flight hours since its maiden flight approximately five months ago," said Duke Dufresne, sector vice president and general manager of the Strike and Surveillance Systems Division for Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems sector.

"This flight not only demonstrated the aircraft's endurance capability, but it also enabled the team to collect crucial communications data points."

The Euro Hawk is the first international configuration of the RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance UAS. It also demonstrates the remarkable team spirit uniting Northrop Grumman and EADS Deutschland GmbH/Cassidian.

"This milestone is a significant step towards completion of the ferry flight to Germany next year," said Nicolas Chamussy, senior vice president of Unmanned Aerial Systems for Cassidian.

"The aircraft will undergo additional flight testing in Germany before being delivered to the German Air Force by the end of 2011 to replace the fleet of manned Breguet Atlantic aircraft which went out of service this year."

Based on the Block 20 configuration, the Euro Hawk will be equipped with a signals intelligence mission system developed by Cassidian, providing standoff capability to detect electronic and communications emitters.

"We are very excited to soon have Euro Hawk flying over German skies and providing airborne wide-area surveillance and reconnaissance," said Neset Tuekenmez, chief executive officer of the EuroHawk GmbH.

"This trans-Atlantic cooperation has been a long time coming since the effort began in August 2000 and the contract awarded in 2007."

Delivery of four subsequent systems is anticipated between 2015 and 2016 following successful testing and introduction in German operational service.