Estonia plans to purchase Global Hawk drone to increase its military reconnaissance capabilities 110

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Defence & Security News - Estonia
 
 
Saturday, January 11, 2013 11:56 AM
 
Estonia plans to purchase Global Hawk drone to increase its military reconnaissance capabilities.
Estonia is planning to buy surveillance drones in the next few years to upgrade its military reconnaissance capabilities, local press reported on Friday, January 10, 2014. Defense Forces commander in chief Maj. Gen. Riho Terras said on Friday that Russia is increasingly proving it is a military superpower and recent conflicts have developed very quickly, and Estonia has decided its military priority is to develop its surveillance abilities.
     
Estonia is planning to buy surveillance drones in the next few years to upgrade its military reconnaissance capabilities, local press reported on Friday, January 10, 2014. Defense Forces commander in chief Maj. Gen. Riho Terras said on Friday that Russia is increasingly proving it is a military superpower and recent conflicts have developed very quickly, and Estonia has decided its military priority is to develop its surveillance abilities.
U.S. Air Force Airmen tow an RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle to a hangar at Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., May 26, 2011
     

"Decisions to react must be made in weeks, which means that intelligence must be gathered in a matter of days,"Terras said, adding that a "blind" nation "could not be defended."

The local Business Daily reported that Estonia, along with 12 other NATO members, is participating in a procurement to purchase U.S.-built Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft.

Six million euros (8 million U.S. dollars) have been earmarked for 2015 or 2016 with necessary infrastructure at an undisclosed location also planned, the report said.

The RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system with an integrated sensor suite that provides intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR, capability worldwide. Global Hawk's mission is to provide a broad spectrum of ISR collection capability to support joint combatant forces in worldwide peacetime, contingency and wartime operations.

The RQ-4 Global Hawk is designed and manufactured by the American Company Northrop Grumman. The Global Hawk is operated by the United States Air Force and U.S. Navy.