RQ-4 Global Hawk: The Future of Warfare

The RQ-4 Global Hawk is a strategic high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft produced by the American company Northrop Grumman in the early 2000s. The RQ-4 is an unmanned aerial vehicle with a high degree of automation, and is controlled remotely from ground bases.
Global Hawk is equipped with a full range of reconnaissance equipment: optical and electronic, as well as an advanced communications system that allows for surveillance, communications and target designation in real time.
The drone is capable of performing reconnaissance missions lasting up to 34 hours at distances of up to 12,300 nmi (22,800 km), which significantly exceeds the performance of its "predecessor" - the Lockheed U-2 and expands reconnaissance capabilities. Thanks to this, the Global Hawk has become an important tool in many operations of the US Armed Forces and its allies.
However, the drone's outstanding capabilities are offset by its complexity and prohibitive cost, which limits its production and supply volumes. This is a problem Northrop Grumman has been struggling with for almost the entire history of the project.

Thank you for watching!


00:00 – The Global Hawk
00:30 – Origins
02:00 – New reconnaissance aircraft projects
04:23 – The Difficult Birth of RQ-4
06:08 – Description of the drone
09:21 – Equipment and controls
12:36 – Service and adventures
14:25 – MQ-4C Triton
15:24 – Why is it so expensive?
17:20 – Prospects

[チキンKatsu]

The civilian uses of an aircraft that can loiter for more than a day and fly extremely high is surprisingly high for example monitoring storms, wildfires, volcanic activity, forestry, agriculture and way more. If the global hawks military career goes south it still has a lot of uses in the civilian sector.

[waitbalthy]

Always a pleasure to see you pop up in my notifications!

[hsjawanda]

The content was good (as usual), but the selection of clips was genius 😆😆!

[ronjon]

I can’t recall if I actually saw the Global Hawk live, a large photo, a documentary on a large screen, but that drone is huge!

[RebeccaPhillips-rs]

Thank you so much for this video. Very instructive.

[MM]

This thing always makes me think a Tomahawk cruise missile and a 747 had a illegitimate baby together.

[chuckmid]

Drove by Grand Sky's today, America!!!

[oadka]

Would have been nice if you had mention a quick comparison with the MQ9.

[Bayoll]

in the future, i believe there this aircraft will still need changes and upgrades possibly similar to the F-15 EX treatment. we'll probably end up calling this the RQ-4 Global Hawk 2 or something.

[SsgtStretch]

The Air Force plans to retire the Global Hawk by the end of 2027. Most of it's fleet has already been mothballed

[alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi]

My fear of drone pilots being drafted from arcade players

[Jagcycle]

It's a great bird, but it was killed by sheer greed of all the military contractors wanting record profits. I'm sure you could have this for $20 million per unit quite easily, but people want to overcharge at every step, and it all adds up to well over $100 million, when you factor in the immense profit margin they want.

[rafa.]

i saw this aircraft on flightradar24 once

[matveygal]

Афигеть, не знал что у ская есть англоязычный канал!

[slezyorla]

can you make a second version of it so i can make a funny hawk tuah meme

[captainjimmy]

Hi Sky, Can you do a video on the G7500?

[pigeonpallz]

I wonder if the AI have their own version of top gun we don't know about.

[ROOZBAN]

I just got pic with one of these in my neighborhood museum
Its been shotdown and being taken from persian gulf

[WeaponTheory]

"The RQ-4 Global Hawk truly represents a significant leap in modern warfare technology. Its ability to conduct long-range, high-altitude surveillance for extended periods without putting pilots at risk is a game-changer. It provides real-time intelligence that can shape battlefield decisions and improve situational awareness. However, as warfare becomes more reliant on drones and AI, it raises ethical questions about autonomy, surveillance, and the future role of human decision-making in conflicts. It's impressive, but also something we need to carefully regulate."

[khaldrago]

It’s overpriced for what it does, much like so many of our defense products.