United Technologies has received a Northrop Grumman contract to build sensors for the RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV.
The Global Hawk will get MS-177 multi-spectral imaging and ISR sensors, made by United Technologies subsidiary UTC Aerospace Systems, according to a United Technologies news release. The MS-177 is part of the Air Force's modernization program for the Global Hawk.
Based on the Senior Year Electro-optical Reconnaissance System (SYERS) 2 sensor system for the U-2 surveillance aircraft, the MS-177 sensor system includes a gimbaled optical design, a wide-area search mode and a motion imagery mode.
"These enhancements allow the MS-177 sensor system to collect greater than six-times more area coverage per hour than the current SYERS-2B sensor operating on the U2 platform," United Technologies said. "MS-177 also has the ability to continuously track a target without having to change the flight path of the UAS."
