Home Air South Korea receives second RQ-4 Global Hawk from the US

South Korea receives second RQ-4 Global Hawk from the US

Republic of Korea Air Force Global Hawk
Photo: Ambassador Harry Harris/Twitter

South Korea has received its second RQ-4 Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft, US ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris confirmed in a social media post.

Sharing a photo on Twitter of an RQ-4 with “The Air Force of the Republic of Korea” inscribed on its airframe in Korean, the ambassador congratulated both the US and Korea on the milestone.

According to the ambassador, the aircraft delivery took place last week, and contrary to previous reports in Korean media, only one aircraft seems to have been delivered.

Korean media reported earlier this month, citing military sources, that another two, of a total of four units, would be delivered.

Korea received its first Global Hawk in December 2019, while the remaining three are scheduled for delivery this year.

The Global Hawks are being delivered by Northrop Grumman under a deal from 2011 that includes the enhanced integrated sensor suite (EISS) with infrared/electro-optical, synthetic aperture radar imagery and ground moving target indicator, mission control element, launch and recovery element, signals intelligence package, an imagery intelligence exploitation system, and communications equipment.

The RQ-4 has a wingspan of 130 feet and provides near-real-time actionable intelligence for more than 30 hours at a time, at altitudes of 60,000 feet or 11 miles high.

The aircraft has been is US Air Force service since 2001 and has amassed more than 250,000 flight hours with missions flown in support of military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, North Africa, and the greater Asia-Pacific region.