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EuroHawk is a symbol that Europe is finally equipping its military with modern equipment.

EuroHawk is a transatlantic collaboration, and its SIGINT system will provide the ability to detect and collect information from electronic intelligence (ELINT) radar emitters and communications emitters, and will be connected to ground stations that can receive and analyze the data.

Since 1992, NATO has been seeking a new aircraft that took advantage of improving technology to get a clearer picture of the situations on the ground. By 2002 they finally formed a joint venture, the Alliance Ground Surveillance program. Political considerations almost immediately beset the program. The initial idea was to mount the radar on manned airplanes but after lengthy debate in 2007, NATO decided to buy unmanned aircraft only for AGS. The debate and political dithering also took a toll. "It's been an exercise in frustration," Ben-Ari says. National pride, budgets, lobbying for roles for each nation's industrial base and the overall need for total consensus between the 15 nations involved in the program continue to hamper AGS's development, he says. The hardware was supposed to be flying by 2010; last week NATO released a statement optimistically projecting that AGS could be available by 2012.

EuroHawk is a sign of progress amid this foot-dragging, according to Ed Walby, Grumman's business development director for high-altitude systems. "EuroHawk is a pathfinder for Europe," Walby says. EuroHawk's adoption will force Germany to create standards and ways to operate unmanned aircraft in Europe and beyond. This includes plans for hiring personnel for new positions, integrating the system into mission planning, training staff and settling airspace issues. (European airspace is more crowded than U.S. airspace, so they are eager to figure out how to employ the automatic takeoff and landing abilities that are instilled in the EuroHawk.) Since European Union nations share these standards, EuroHawk—which is scheduled to be operational in 2011, a full year before AGS's most recent estimate—will pave the way for the unmanned AGS aircraft.

Source popularmechanics.com