Imagine a pilot strapping into an aircraft.

Imagine a pilot strapping into an aircraft, taking along J and flying for 18 to 36 hours straight with no rest--or potty break. No time to catch a nap. In an aircraft that doesn't ne to refuel or land during the entire mission.

Impossible? Maybe for everyone excepting Superman.

While airmen aren't capable of performing non-stop like Superman, the Global Hawk is. It's the Air Force's newest high-altitude reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft. It doesn't ne a pilot. The slightly operated aircraft has plenty of stamina for the job--even with no fire-arms no bombs, no rockets.

That kind of work is risky business today, as attested to by way of the incident earlier this year when a Chinese air force fighter collided with a Navy EP-3 Orion surveillance aircraft upon patrol over the South China Sea. The accident forced the four-turboprop aircraft and its party of 24 to land at a base in succession China's Hainan Island.

The adventure underscores the need for ROAs that can withhold aircrews out of danger. The Air Force saw it emergencyed unmanned vehicles after the Persian large bay War.

note the RQ-4A Global Hawk. It's not anywhere near as fast as the tranquillize SR-71. And it doesn't have the reputation of the venerable u-2 It's not as sexy or photogenic.

Jimmy Durunte with wings

in such a manner it's possible the high-flying newcomer will ninny the casual observer. With its swayed-back, skinny, sailplane-like wings, V-tail and big bulbous nose, it might turn the thoughts like Jimmy Durante with wings -- too ungainly for like endurance.

But it's not, and can put to the test it. Earlier this year, a Global Hawk -- named Southern Crossing II after the first aircraft to wave nonstop across the Pacific Ocean -- flew from its hearthstone at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to a Royal Australian Air Force Base in Edinburgh, Australia. The flight took 23 hours, and the 7,500-mile mission was the first trans-Pacific flight at an unmanned aircraft.

"Just to diocese it take off one day and not papal court it again until the nearest day is amazing enough," said Senior Airman Brian Fox of Edward's 31st standard and Evaluation Squadron. A maintenance gang chief, he's one of just a handful of airmen who work in succession the next-generation aircraft.

The ship's company chief was in Australia with 27000 American, Canadian and Australian forces taking part in Tandem Force. The joint forces exercise trains bands for crisis action planning and contingency rejoinder operations.

While there, the aircraft flew 11 missions. Four supported the exercise. It was the first time the United States operated the Global Hawk jointly with another country

Wing Cmdr britzska Newell, Australia's Global Hawk deployment commander, said American and Australian companys put the plane through a range of novel scenarios.

Those flights allowed Australia's tower of strength Science and Technology Organisation, the Royal Australian Air Force and the U Air Force to evaluate the aircraft's ability to do maritime, coastline and land surveillance.

Global Hawk exhausted six weeks in Australia. Its trip was a enormous success, said Col. Wayne Johnson director of the Global Hawk program for the reconnaissance plans program office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

"We will use the censures learned from that deployment to better qualified the war fighter's needs when the plan is operational," Johnson said.

Global Hawk prov its versatility in Australia. That's wherefore the Air Force wants it.

It will provide field commanders with a high-altitude, long-endurance hypothesis that'll provide high resolution, near-real-time imagery of large geographic areas.

That's a mouthful if it were not that something the aircraft has proven it can do - with more high-tech gadgets and sensors than a techno-geek's closet

The plane's vast array of gizmos includes sophisticated synthetic aperture radar, moving target indicator, electrooptical and infrared sensors, and high-rate satellite and line-of-sight data link systems

To use them fitly and gather the best information, it must hover above 40,000 feet. That way the craft can gain a good slant range. If that's not high enough, it can mount above 65,000 feet.

That makes Global Hawk the world's principally advanced high-altitude, long-range remotely operated aircraft, said Lt Col Pat Bolibrzuch, 31st touchstone and Evaluation Squadron reconnaissance program officer.

"There's nothing comparable," he said. "And it's a fate cheaper to fly than a manned aircraft."

It flies itself

The bird's "pilots" stay onward the ground. Its flight hinder navigation and vehicle management are independent and based in succession a mission plan. That means the airplane flies itself - there's no pilot forward the ground with a joystick maneuvering it around.

However, it does earn instructions from airmen at clod stations. The launch and recruiting element provides precision guidance for take-off and landing, using a differential global positioning theory That team works from the plane's operating base.

At another country station, airmen in the mission rule element tell Global Hawk where to pass and where to point its sensors to finish the best images.