Report: Guam to get Global Hawks

Posted on: Mar. 1st, 2006 || Source: airforcetimes.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

As we reported earlier, three to six Global Hawk UAV's will be stationed at Guam Air Force Base in the pacific.

"We are hoping by 2009 to bed down (the Global Hawk)," said 36th Air Expeditionary Wing commander Col. Michael Boera in an interview with Kyodo News.

While the tiny airbase was hit hard by base closures in the 1990s, it is once again open for military business. Due to base closings in Japan, thousands of Marines are moving out of the area over the next several years. The Pentagon is therefore turning its eye to Guam, the westernmost U.S. territory and an attractive launching pad for Pacific operations.

It would be the first time the U.S. military stationed the high-altitude, long endurance model in the western Pacific.

With a 42 hour endurance the unmanned aircraft is likely to replace the U-2 spy plane, which will retire over the next few years. The U-2 (among other aircraft) conducts on average 180 reconnaissance missions per month over North Korea alone (see: North Korea accuses US of conducting 170 spy flights).

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