Air Combat Command loaned one of its newer Block 40 Global Hawks to the flight test community at Edwards AFB, Calif., to help with configuration-constrained testing. The Block 40 from Grand Forks AFB, N.D., will join the existing Global Hawks at the 412th Test Wing’s Global Vigilance Combined Test Force at Edwards and will be used to test upgrades for the diminishing manufacturing source program, which addresses the loss or likely loss of manufacturers or suppliers of needed systems or raw material, according to an Air Force release. The high-altitude, long-endurance remotely piloted aircraft also will be used to test additional systems, including Inmarsat and multi-platform mission control segment hardware and software integration. “The importance of Inmarsat testing is that in the end of calendar year 2016, if we don’t make these modernizations across the fleet our fleet faces potential grounding,” said Teresa Bennett, the GVCTF Global Hawk program manager. The block 40 Global Hawk is expected to be ready for use by September and is on loan through January. It will allow the test force to advance its current developmental testing and focus on modifications that will benefit ACC in the long run.
RTX, parent of Raytheon, Collins and Pratt & Whitney, is getting out of the space prime business and focusing on its "strengths" as a maker of space sensors, buses, and components, company COO Chris Calio said during an earnings call.