Reaper and Global Hawks being modernized to defeat A2 / AD environment through long range high-resolution sensors and cybersecurity

Current unmanned aircraft – including the MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper and RQ-4 Global Hawk have excelled against terrorists, both for near-persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and strike capability for Reapers and Predators. This was partly due to the permissive environments of southwest Asia counter terrorism missions against technologically inferior groups. In active operation with the USAF since 2001, Global Hawk is capable of flying at altitudes up to 60,000ft for more than 30 hours continuously. It is powered by a Rolls-Royce AE 3007 turbofan engine. The RQ-4 fleet carries out a range of missions including near real-time imagery, signals intelligence, airborne communications gateway and tactical networking.