US Army expands hypersonic test support with modified Global Hawks

The US Army has awarded a $325.5 million contract to Northrop Grumman to develop a modified version of the RQ-4 Global Hawk designed to accelerate hypersonic weapons testing, the company said.

The new system, known as RangeHawk, will be adapted to support the Pentagon’s growing requirement for faster and more frequent data collection during hypersonic flight trials, The Defence Post reports.

It is intended to replace traditional ship-based tracking methods, which are slower, costlier, and dependent on complex ocean deployments.

Under the terms of the contract, Northrop Grumman will develop a universal payload architecture for the platform by 2031, allowing rapid integration of different mission systems. A separate $43 million award to AeroVironment will fund the installation of phased-array receivers for telemetry collection.

At present, hypersonic test data is gathered using naval vessels positioned beneath test flight paths. Officials say these ships can take months to reposition between trials, limiting the number of tests that can be conducted each year.

The US Department of Defence’s SkyRange programme has already converted three older Global Hawk airframes for similar missions since 2023, reducing preparation times from months to days, according to defence officials.

The Pentagon now plans to convert around two dozen additional aircraft, with the aim of increasing annual hypersonic tests from roughly 12 to 50.

Hypersonic weapons travel at speeds above Mach 5 — more than five times the speed of sound — and are considered difficult to intercept due to their speed and manoeuvrability.

The US is currently developing several systems in this category, including the Army’s long-range hypersonic weapon known as Dark Eagle, which is approaching operational deployment.

Officials say expanded airborne test infrastructure is intended to close the gap with rivals such as China and Russia, which are already fielding operational hypersonic systems.

By Aghakazim Guliyev