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The aircraft took off on Wednesday (20 November 2019) from Palmdale Air Base in California, US at 10h00 local time and landed 22 hours later in its new home at the AGS Main Operating Base, according to plan. The aircraft was received by the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Management Agency (NAGSMA) General Manager Brigadier General Volker Samanns. AGS Force Commander Brigadier General Phillip Stewart and other senior officials were also present.

AGS is being developed with significant contributions from 15 Allies - Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United States.

The NATO AGS program includes five NATO RQ-4D remotely piloted aircraft. All five are currently performing different stages of developmental test flights. Once each of the aircraft arrives at the Main Operating Base in Sigonella, a verification phase will start, in order to ensure full compliance of the system. The entire AGS system will be handed over to the NATO AGS Force once it has completed all its testing and performance verification. Initial operational capability is expected for the first half of 2020.

SIGONELLA AIR BASE, SIGONELLA, Italy – Nov. 21, 2019 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) successfully ferried the first of five NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) aircraft, via a non-stop, 22-hour transatlantic flight. The aircraft took off on Wednesday, Nov. 20, from Palmdale, California and landed approximately 22 hours later on Nov. 21 at Sigonella Air Base, Sigonella, Italy.

The NATO AGS RQ-4D aircraft is based on the U.S. Air Force wide area surveillance Global Hawk. It has been uniquely adapted to NATO requirements and will provide NATO state-of-the-art intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability.