Robotic plane to cross Pacific Ocean

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE (AP) – A robotic reconnaissance jet developed for the Air Force will try to fly from California to Australia on Sunday, becoming the first such aircraft to cross the Pacific Ocean.

The unpiloted Global Hawk spy plane will take off from the Mojave Desert before dawn and land at a Royal Australian Air Force Base outside Adelaide after a 22 1/2 -hour, 8,600-mile flight.

If the flight is successful, it will be the farthest a robotic aircraft has flown between two points, said Robert Ettinger, manager of the Global Hawk flight test program for manufacturer Northrop Grumman Corp.’s Ryan Aeronautical Center.

Since its maiden flight in 1998, the Global Hawk has made flights of 30 hours and more. Its endurance, combined with a telescopic camera that can tell the difference between a sedan and a pickup truck from altitudes of 65,000 feet, make the plane ideal for reconnaissance.

The awkward-looking plane with a 116-foot wingspan resembles a killer whale, thanks to a bulbous nose that hides an antenna 4 feet in diameter.

On takeoff, the Global Hawk’s mammoth wings droop under 15,000 pounds of fuel that account for 60 percent of the aircraft’s weight. A Rolls-Royce engine sits astride the fuselage, framed by a distinctive V-shaped tail.

After the plane takes off Sunday, it will fly nearly twice as high as commercial jets at a speed of about 400 mph. Ground crews will monitor the flight – but not control it – as the plane picks its way along a preprogrammed route.

In Australia, the Global Hawk will fly about 12 sorties during combined military exercises. Australia is interested in using the Global Hawk to patrol its northern coast.

Northrop designed the plane to fly as far as 1,400 miles from its base, crisscross a target for 24 hours to acquire radar, infrared and black-and-white images, and then return home.

“You could take pictures of the entire state of Illinois in one 24-hour period, on one flight,” said Col. Wayne Johnson, director of the Global Hawk program for the Air Force. Pictures taken by the plane can be zipped via satellite to anywhere on Earth within minutes.

The plane, which cost more than $750 million to develop over the last seven years, likely will compete with the U-2 spy plane.

Designed primarily for reconnaissance, the Global Hawk also could be equipped with eavesdropping devices such as those aboard the EP-3E Aries II spy plane being held by China, Ettinger said.

Northrop has built five Global Hawks so far. One crashed in 1999 when it accidentally received a test signal ordering it to terminate its flight by spiraling into the ground. Two more are being built, with further production to begin this fall.

The plane flying Sunday has been dubbed the “Southern Cross II” to honor the first aircraft to fly from the United States to Australia. The original Southern Cross, a three-engine Fokker that departed from Oakland, Calif., made the trip in several legs in 1928.