DAYTON, Ohio — Officials at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base are working on plans to boost the capabilities of an unmanned spy plane that has become one of the military's most popular aircraft.

        The Air Force's RQ-4A Global Hawk, which still is being developed, has been ordered into production. Wright-Patterson officials managing the Global Hawk program are trying to increase the high-flying robot plane's payloads and add more sensors.

ON THE WEB

Global Hawk fact sheet:
www2.acc.af.mil/library/factsheets/globalhawk.html
        The Navy plans to buy two of the planes for testing, and the Pentagon is talking to European defense leaders about exporting them as “Euro Hawks,” the Dayton Daily News reported Sunday. The newspaper said Australia also is interested in the Global Hawk.

        Many designs for unmanned aerial vehicles, or UVAs, have been tried and abandoned over the years, but the Bush administration's 2003 defense budget requests $629 million to accelerate development and production of the Global Hawk.

        The Pentagon's enthusiasm for the Global Hawk has grown since it began flying them over Afghanistan in November. The plane's ability to cruise more than 12 miles high and span oceans without refueling was a help in remote Afghanistan. The self-guided plane also is designed to fly 1,380 miles and stay airborne for up to 36 hours.

        The Global Hawk also has a radar system that can make picture-like images and detect moving targets, a see-in-the-dark infrared camera and an optical camera for daytime viewing. The plane can then relay the pictures to distant ground stations via satellite.

        The Air Force is now combining its development efforts with production, said Col. Wayne Johnson, the Global Hawk program manager.

        In January, the Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman Corp. a $101.3 million contract to build the first two production planes and a mission control unit and a $41.5 million contract for more development work.

        Johnson said the Air Force plans to buy more than 50 Global Hawks, but the final number hasn't been determined.

Children's services strapped
Court will settle voucher debate
Pisgah leaders hope for new lease on retail life
Byrd case shows flaws in death penalty system
Chemical castration becomes issue
Professors go back to high school
Two local teens in elite company
200,000 Ohioans living near nuclear plants to receive pills
A picture-perfect reunion
Do-not-call list appears to be working
Funds sought for fire victim
Students show off their city in contest
$15,300 more OK'd for Mason court
Communities turning to downtown programs
Intern gets view from the top
Jurors judge sanity in drowned children case
Model citizen, business sought
Monroe schools see improvement in student proficiency-test scores
Ohio teen dies in suspicious fire
Primary: Deadline near for May 7 slate
Proposals thus far dance around larger constitutional issues
Siren song: Tests to get last blast
Wright-Pat officials hone plane
Tristate A.M. report
Some Good News
You asked for it