Two years after extensive tests in Middle East, the US Navy’s customised RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV is now operating with a carrier task force at sea. This navy version of the US Air Force RQ-4 is called BAMS (Broad Area Maritime Surveillance). Circling above the task force, at 22,500 metres (70,000 feet), BAMS is monitoring sea traffic off the Iranian coast and the Straits of Hormuz. Anything suspicious is checked out carrier or land based aircraft, or nearby warships. The BAMS aircraft fly a 24-hour sortie every three days. The first production BAMS will be available in six months, and these models will begin entering service in three years.

The navy plans to buy 20 BAMS and 117 P-8As to replace 250 P-3Cs. This replacement is supposed to be complete in about a decade. The new surveillance aircraft provide more information over a wider area.

The US Air Force and Navy are buying the B version of the RQ-4 Global Hawk UAVs at a cost of over $60 million each. This version is larger (wingspan is 5 metres/15 feet larger, at 42.2 metres/131 feet, and it’s nine per cent longer at 15.5 metres/48 feet) than the A model, and can carry more equipment. To support that, there’s a new generator that produces 150 per cent more electrical power. The RQ-4 has a range of over 22,000 kilometres and a cruising speed of 650 kilometres an hour.