Air Force testers at Edwards AFB, Calif., have been checking out air vehicle N-1, the Navy’s first RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle, until the Navy could get its own launch and recovery system set up at NAS Patuxent River, Md. The N-1 took off from Edwards last week on its way to its new home, where it will take part in the Navy’s Global Hawk Maritime Demonstration for Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment 2006. The Navy commanded the 10-hour flight of N-1 to Maryland from Pax River.
A legislative standoff has led to a lapse in a $4.26 billion small business innovation contracting program widely used by the Air Force and could spell the end of it entirely, industry sources warned Air & Space Forces Magazine.
