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Product profile

RQ-4 Global Hawk

RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system for persistent wide-area intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance with ne...

Facts

Company
Northrop Grumman
Product type
uav
Status
active
Primary capability
wide_area_isr
Website
https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/aircraft/global-hawk

About RQ-4 Global Hawk

RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system for persistent wide-area intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance with near-real-time multi-sensor collection.

Market context

https://zlsbkmaixmmnjrgpkcyp.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/robotics_assets/products/korthos-product-candidates-2026-08-18-batch-8/northrop-grumman-rq-4-global-hawk-official-16x9.jpg, fixed_wing_uav, robot, 1600, 900, c1168c0a395cb2d242121fc55546b41f56b35e4f85f53cf3067bade73457560b, reviewed_16x9_official_media, HALE ISR UAV, robotics_assets, https://media.northropgrumman.com/68c1bdf5-c2b9-417e-9e4f-b385000a9b2e/global-hawk-proven-persistence_Original%20file.jpg, https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/aircraft/global-hawk, official, https://zlsbkmaixmmnjrgpkcyp.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/robotics_assets/products/korthos-product-candidates-2026-08-18-batch-8/northrop-grumman-rq-4-global-hawk-official-16x9.jpg, generic_uav, products/korthos-product-candidates-2026-08-18-batch-8/northrop-grumman-rq-4-global-hawk-official-16x9.jpg, 2026-08-18, male_hale_uav, HALE ISR UAV, male_hale_uav, false, source_photo_16x9_crop, drone, source_photo_16x9_crop, HALE ISR UAV, drone, male_hale_uav, drone

Summary

Type: HALE ISR UAV

Core: RQ-4 Global Hawk

Function: Persistent wide-area ISR

Audience: Defence and intelligence operators

Specifications

communications_relay
Selected fleet configurations support airborne communications relay
endurance_h
Endurance greater than 30 hours h
flight_hours
Global Hawk fleet has amassed more than 320,000 flight hours h
length_ft
RQ-4B fuselage length 47.6 ft ft
mission_range_nmi
Mission range greater than 10,000 nautical miles nmi
sensor_posture
Multi-sensor ISR platform providing near-real-time high-resolution imagery and data
service_ceiling_ft
Operates at altitudes up to 60,000 ft ft
weather_operation
High-resolution imagery collection by day or night and in all weather
wingspan_ft
RQ-4B wingspan 130.9 ft ft

Operations

Environment
outdoor, defence, remote_operations
Primary user
defence operators, intelligence agencies, surveillance mission planners
Role
wide_area_isr, persistent_surveillance, communications_relay
Interaction model
autonomous, remote_supervised
Mobility class
fixed_wing_uav
Product detail
https://zlsbkmaixmmnjrgpkcyp.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/robotics_assets/products/korthos-product-candidates-2026-08-18-batch-8/northrop-grumman-rq-4-global-hawk-official-16x9.jpg, fixed_wing_uav, robot, 1600, 900, c1168c0a395cb2d242121fc55546b41f56b35e4f85f53cf3067bade73457560b, reviewed_16x9_official_media, HALE ISR UAV, robotics_assets, https://media.northropgrumman.com/68c1bdf5-c2b9-417e-9e4f-b385000a9b2e/global-hawk-proven-persistence_Original%20file.jpg, https://www.northropgru...

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