The commander of U.S. Air Force assets in the Pacific said Tuesday hed like to see high-altitude, long-endurance surveillance drones like the RQ-4 Global Hawk perform non-military missions to protect commerce in the region.
Gen. Paul Hester told a gathering at the Air and Space conference in Washington hes been in discussions with regional commanders and Pacific Rim governments over the last two years to see how the Air Force could patrol economic choke points, such as the Strait of Malacca, using Global Hawk and other drones.
Theres a much broader array of things that we can do with ISR platforms, both RQ-1 Predators and Global Hawks, Hester said. Where does ISR play into the performance of all of us and our desire for peace and security in the Pacific to secure [and] guarantee the economies of those countries better throughout the Pacific? And how do we protect those lines of communication both air and sea lines of communication? Almost half of the worlds oil passes through the Malaccan Straits every day.
Hester said hes been talking to regional governments to see if drones could extend their ranges by stopping off at friendly bases something he called gas-and-go operations.
Is there a way that we can use in a consortium-style operation … in a way that we can share information? he wondered.
In the end, though, Hester has a pretty good point. Its what former Marine Commandant Mike Hagee called Phase Zero operations. Those all-seeing eyes could keep potentially bad situations from getting totally out of hand.
I call it the left end of the low end of operations where we provide those eyes, ears and information for decision makers both military and political then we have the ability to solve problems early as opposed to waiting until later when weve got our guns drawn and were pointing them at each other, Hester said.
The Global Hawk is scheduled to deploy to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam in 2009 to replace the U-2 missions over the Korean peninsula. Hester said hes planning a test-run of his economic security theory with a single Global Hawk next year to see what the Global Hawk can bring us.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Makes pretty good sense…so it will probably be shot down by some headline hungry politician in DC.
Sergeant Major
So is this the Raymond that is a Native American performer? That performed at Silver Springs just last week? Novemeber 17-19? Thank you.
why doesnt the gov. use the global hawk here in the states along the U.S./Mexican border. it would a big assest to our border patrol troops.
I ask why does this do a better job than a C-130 fitted with the same equipment. I guess im just old school, but i dont really like big unmanned airplanes. What happens when the terrorists hijack it and fly it into the new trade center. Ya it might not happen you say, but how many times have hackers hacked into the DOD datebase, FBI, CIA, nothing like that will be as safe as a plane that has a real pilot (im my world).
There just are not enough Global Hawks to go around to do all the existing Military Missions asked of it now, let alone adding non-Military Missions to it’s Job List too.
I am surprised the U2 is being replaced by GH, as HALE’s cannot think, like a human can. Just wait until North Korea shoots one down… I can just see the Headlines now: The Pueblo Incident, The EC-121 Incident, and now… The Global Hawk Incident. When are we going to learn?
Pirates in the Straits of Malacca? Just arm the Oil Tankers with a couple of Phalanx Mk-15 CIWS and telling the Captain to turn the switch to “ON” before going to sleep at night. It’s very hard to stand up to flying pieces of Depleated Uranium… even if you are a Pirate in a Fast Boat with AK-47′s and Grappling Hooks trying to come on-board… lol!!.
Thanks for having a picture of the Global Hawk with people standing next to it.I never fully appreciated just how big it is.Why couldn’t they arm it like they do the Predator? Allow it to carry JDAMS or cruise missiles,at the very least,JDAMS.Now that I’ve seen its size,why not arm it?
Again,realizing its size,no wonder there are so few of them.Its like building a regular plane. What is the cost of each Global Hawk?
as the U-2 phases outthe powers that be think the hawk is the answer.It only has a longer flying time.For the past 30 years nobody talks to the Generals and Admirals like in WWII.
Let the Air frorce be in charge of the new systems
Also all the smartbombs are stymied by a fanatic with a bomb on his chest.War means you have to kill.Something the present a holes seem to have forgotten
a f-22 costs 340 millioin,designed to fight thr cold war.Thats not what we need in todays conflicts.Money canbe spent on cheaper planes and the savings on better equiopment bfor the people that are actally doing the fighting.Of course the defence contractors dont like that theory.WE spend on high teck and the US and the isreils have proven we are fighting people out oif the dark ages
The Global Hawk costs about $35 million.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RQ-4_Global_Hawk
Are those guys in the Global Hawk photo wearing sneakers?
Gen Hester must be referring to a post OIF/OEF world because there will only be a few operational Global Hawks in our inventory over the next few years.
Ryan;
there are much smaller cheaper platforms available; IIRC, some are coming into use. Here’s one problem: FAA regs on civilian air space.
http://tinyurl.com/27fufs