The US Air Force (USAF) has contracted Northrop Grumman to maintain deployment of three E-11 Global Express aircraft and three EQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft that carry the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN), an electronic tool used to route communications signals between incompatible and out-of-range systems.
Northrop operates the E-11 aircraft and maintains both E-11 and EQ-4 payloads.
Much of the work will take place at Kandahar Air Base, the main air operations base in southern Afghanistan where the BACN-equipped aircraft are often seen. The currently-flown aircraft will soon be joined by additional EQ-4s, which are modified from ex-USAF RQ-4 Block 20 reconnaissance UAS.
Source: Flight Global