A Global Hawk has flown for the first time to a non-military Australian airfield to be viewed by the general public.
The high-flying UAV landed February 22 at Avalon Airport in Victoria, Australia, as part of the 2015 Australian International Airshow and Aerospace & Defense Exposition. “This is significant on a number of fronts,” said Royal Australian Air Force Air Marshal Geoff Brown. “It is the first time a military unmanned aerial system has been in civil airspace with a civil air traffic control service in Australia, and the first time a military UAS has landed at a civil airport.”
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Perhaps not coincidentally, the public display comes after Australia opted to acquire the Triton, the Global Hawk’s maritime patrol sister. Brown acknowledged that “we have a keen interest in seeing the RQ-4 up close given our recent acquisition of the MQ-4C Triton, which provides the needed capability to monitor and protect Australia’s vast ocean approaches.”
