Northrop Grumman, L-3 pitch Polar Hawk UAV for arctic use
by Canadianmanufacturing.com Staff
The unmanned aerial vehicle can be equipped with a wide range of instrumentation for conducting science and environmental missions.
OTTAWA—Northrop Grumman Corp. and L-3 MAS will team up to build a variant of the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system for Canada to patrol the Arctic.
Dubbed “Polar Hawk,” the system will stay aloft for long periods of time in harsh weather conditions over vast expanses of the Earth’s surface monitoring land, ice, littoral and open water environments throughout the Arctic.
Flying at 60,000 feet—well above challenging weather and all commercial air traffic—Polar Hawk ranges over 22,000 kilometres and stays airborne for more than 33 hours at a time in all weather conditions.
In addition to its surveillance payloads, the UAV can be equipped with a wide range of instrumentation for conducting science and environmental missions.
Northrop Grumman is a global security company that supplies aerospace technology, electronics, information systems and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide.
Based in Mirabel, Que., L-3 MAS, a division of L-3’s Integrated Systems Group, provides aircraft life-cycle extension services, aircraft in-service support services and aerostructures to government and commercial customers. L-3 MAS has operating centres across Canada and in Williamtown, Australia.
