USAF has 'urgent' need to increase size of BACN fleet
Gareth Jennings, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
09 February 2017
EQ-4B Global Hawk BACN)aircraft, serial number 04-2019, photographed during its first flight after leaving the Northrop-Grumman manufacturing facility at Palmdale, California, on 14 July 2010. The USAF now wants to add a fourth such aircraft to the three already flying in the role. Source: US Air Force
The US Air Force (USAF) has an "urgent" need to increase its Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) capability with an additional Northrop Grumman EQ-4B Global Hawk high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the service disclosed on 8 February.
The BACN system is fielded on four modified manned E-11A Bombardier regional jets and three unmanned EQ-4B Global Hawks, which to date have undertaken about 8,300 and 1,700 combat missions respectively.
As noted by the USAF, "the [Air Force Life Cycle Management Center] AFLCMC has begun working an urgent need for another Global Hawk capable of wielding BACN … for a total fleet of eight BACN-equipped aircraft."
http://www.janes.com/article/67601/usaf-has-urgent-need-to-increase-size-of-bacn-fleet
