The US Navy has received approval from Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Gary Roughead to receive three more Air Force Block 10 Global Hawks to supplement its two Broad Area Maritime Surveillance demonstrator unmanned aircraft, the program manager told Inside the Navy last week.
ITN reported in December that the program was mulling acquiring up to seven more Global Hawks from the Air Force to supplement its BAMS-D aircraft, which have been conducting operations in the U.S. Central Command area of operations for more than two years as a precursor to the BAMS program, scheduled to reach initial operational capability in 2015.
The Navy anticipates operating BAMS as an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance asset in concert with the P-8A Poseidon and an as-yetundefined EPX spy plane capability.
The program will instead receive three aircraft, which the CNO signed off on May 3 and which had already been approved by the Air Force, Capt. Bob Dishman, BAMS program manager, said in a May 12 interview.
“We already have one in our inventory,” he said.
“The other two will arrive here within a week.”