Northrop, L-3 Division Developing Unmanned Arctic Aircraft

Northrop Grumman and an L-3 Communications division plan to develop an unmanned aerial system that can withstand weather and environmental conditions in northern Canada.

The companies said UAS designs will be based on Northrop’s Global Hawk, a high-altitude, long-endurance drone, and provide Canada the ability to constantly survey the Arctic.

Polar Hawk system will be designed to stay aloft in varying weather conditions so it can be used for surveillance, science and environmental research and humanitarian missions.

The drones could fly at 60,000 feet for at least 33 hours over 22,000 kilometers, the companies said.

Northrop recently reported it would begin test flights for its football field-sized unmanned surveillance airship for the Army in June.

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