Robot model
RQ-4 Global Hawk
High-altitude long-endurance reconnaissance UAV.
- Manufacturer
- Northrop Grumman
- Form factor
- aerial
- Maturity
- commercial
- Lifecycle
- active
- Deployments
- 2
- Website
- northropgrumman.com ↗
Appears inMilitary & defense drones
Overview
High-altitude long-endurance reconnaissance UAV. 30+ hour endurance, 60,000 ft altitude, all-weather ISR platform. US and NATO operator.
Verified vs. claimed
- Maturity stage
- commercial(Commercially deployed with revenue-generating operations.)
- Verified deployments
- 2 deployments on file
- Sources on file
- 2 sources, view all
Key facts
Focus
Products
Stage
NYSE
Autonomous flight hours
Key products
Specs
Max altitude m
Flight time min
Data & sources
Government records
1
Web sources
1
2 sources backing this record.View all →
Availability and pricing
- Availability
- Not disclosed
- Price
- $103M to $130M (actual sale price)as of 2024-01-01
- Units in field
- Not disclosed
- Sales model
- Not disclosed
- Lead time
- Not disclosed
Pricing
One-time purchase
$103,000,000 - $130,000,000 USDactual sale priceas of 2024-01-01
Source: RQ-4 Global Hawk (Wikipedia)
Price status: actual-sale-price = real published price at time of sale; manufacturer-target = vendor target, not yet realized; analyst-estimate = third-party projection, not a vendor figure; not-announced = no price on record.
Prices verified as of Jan 1, 2024
Deployments (2)
NATO's Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) capability -- 5 Northrop Grumman RQ-4D Phoenix aircraft (a NATO-specific Block 40 Global Hawk variant) -- was declared fully operational on 18 November 2020 and is based at…
- RQ-4 Global Hawk at Beale Air Force Baseoperational
The United States Air Force 9th Reconnaissance Wing (9 RW) at Beale Air Force Base, Yuba County, California is the primary Global Hawk operating unit.
RQ-4 Global Hawk on the deployment map
Where RQ-4 Global Hawk is verified operating. Explore the deployment map by place and type.
- delivery and inspection drones in United States →
- delivery and inspection drones in California →
- delivery and inspection drones in Ukraine (combat zones) →
- delivery and inspection drones in Nevada →
- delivery and inspection drones in United Kingdom →
- delivery and inspection drones in China →
- The global deployment map →
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Verified media addedVerifiedJun 11, 2026
RQ-4 Block 10 Global Hawk capabilities
- Record createdJun 7, 2026
Added to the verified registry
- Price point recorded: $103,000,000-$130,000,000VerifiedJan 1, 2024
Actual sale price
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedNov 20, 2020
at Sigonella (NAS Sigonella, Sicily)
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedJan 1, 2004
at Beale Air Force Base
Safety record
No incidents on record for RQ-4 Global Hawk.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Sources (2)
Common questions
- What is RQ-4 Global Hawk?
- High-altitude long-endurance reconnaissance UAV. 30+ hour endurance, 60,000 ft altitude, all-weather ISR platform. US and NATO operator.
- How much does RQ-4 Global Hawk cost?
- RQ-4 Global Hawk is listed at $103,000,000 to $130,000,000 on the DEPLOY registry. This is an actual sale price on record.
- Is RQ-4 Global Hawk actually deployed in the real world?
- Yes. RQ-4 Global Hawk is independently verified in real-world operation on the DEPLOY registry, confirmed at named deployment sites with primary sources: not a concept, render, or demo-only.
- Who makes RQ-4 Global Hawk?
- RQ-4 Global Hawk is made by Northrop Grumman, based in Falls Church, Virginia, USA, founded in 1994.
- Where is RQ-4 Global Hawk deployed?
- 2 verified deployments of RQ-4 Global Hawk are on the DEPLOY registry, including at Sigonella (NAS Sigonella, Sicily), Beale Air Force Base.
- Can you buy RQ-4 Global Hawk?
- RQ-4 Global Hawk is available for purchase - a real sale price is on record (see the pricing section for the figure and its source).
- What are alternatives to RQ-4 Global Hawk?
- On the DEPLOY registry, comparable aerial robots to RQ-4 Global Hawk include Zipline Platform 2 (P2), Skydio X10, Wing Delivery Aircraft, MQ-9 Reaper.
- How does RQ-4 Global Hawk compare to Zipline Platform 2 (P2)?
- RQ-4 Global Hawk and Zipline Platform 2 (P2) (Zipline · 6 deployments) are both aerial robots on the DEPLOY registry. RQ-4 Global Hawk has 2 verified deployments on record. Compare both records for specs, safety, deployments, and verified-vs-claimed autonomy.
- Is RQ-4 Global Hawk a top aerial?
- On DEPLOY's intelligence score, which blends verified deployments, safety, adoption, media, and IP signals, RQ-4 Global Hawk ranks in roughly the top 26% of aerial models tracked by the registry.
- What is RQ-4 Global Hawk's maturity stage?
- RQ-4 Global Hawk is at the commercial stage on the DEPLOY maturity ladder (research, prototype, pilot, commercial, production). Commercial stage means production-grade deployments are operating at named customer sites.
- Is RQ-4 Global Hawk safe?
- RQ-4 Global Hawk has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.
Methodology: Verified · 2 sources (1 primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-12
Verification posture
Verified
High confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-07-12
Maturity + lifecycle
Maturity stage: commercial
Lifecycle: active
Architectural position
Cohort: aerial
Sources by quality tier
- 1
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
- 1
- primary-government-record
- Government record
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for RQ-4 Global Hawk.Recent coverage
RQ-4 Global Hawk in third-party press
Attention vs reality over time
Media mentions per month (area) against verified deployment events (dots). A press spike over a flat deployment line is the hype gap, drawn over time.
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning RQ-4 Global Hawk from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
NATO to add up to five Northrop Grumman Triton drones for maritime surveillance
“It is genuinely made in NATO and is creating jobs on both sides of the Atlantic,” alliance Secretary-General Mark Rutte said.
Pentagon reveals preferred munitions for one-way attack drones
The list includes Northrop Grumman and several startups competing to supply low-cost payloads compatible with any drone design.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /models/global-hawk.md
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/models/97fe3809-c0d7-420b-883c-dda8bead336c
- Revision history: /models/global-hawk/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Video
Northrop Grumman completed an acoustic test of the Sentinel ICBM's front end at its Large Acoustic Test Facility in Redondo Beach, California, with Lawrence Liv
Northrop Grumman just tested the warhead of the new Sentinel ICBM — the missile built to replace America's aging Minuteman III. Acoustic testing proves it can s
Reality vs attention
RQ-4 Global Hawk draws attention at the 60th percentile but verifies reality at the 74th percentile among aerial robots. Hype Gap -13.5, 48th widest among aerial robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Thin deployment record; scale validation still in progress.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Jul 23, 2026