Grand Forks community celebrates 15 years of the RQ-4 mission at Grand Forks AFB Published May 21, 2026 By Staff Sgt. Jovan Banks 319th Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- Airmen of the 319th Reconnaissance Wing and local community members gathered to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the RQ-4 mission at Grand Forks Air Force Base, May 20, 2026, at Grand Forks County’s GrandSKY facility. The RQ-4 mission arrived at Grand Forks AFB May 26, 2011, and was assigned to the 69th Reconnaissance Group, a tenant unit of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing stationed at Beale AFB, California. In 2019, the 319th Reconnaissance Wing was activated on Grand Forks AFB and the Global Hawk mission transitioned from the 69th RG to the 319th RW to consolidate operations and support functions to one command. “Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week the Global Hawk is operating combat operations across the globe – we do the operations from here,” said Col. Alfred Rosales, commander for the 319th RW. “The aircrew doing all the thinking, the coordinating, the talking; keeping people safe on the ground, in the oceans; finding the adversary on the land, overseas, in the air – all that work is done from here.” The RQ-4 Global Hawk is a remotely piloted platform able to be flown and controlled anywhere in the world by pilots and sensor operators assigned to the 348th Reconnaissance Squadron at Grand Forks AFB. The 319th RW’s geographically separated units, the 7th Reconnaissance Squadron at Sigonella Naval Air Station, Italy; and the 4th Reconnaissance Squadron at Yokota Air Base, Japan, provide launch and recovery of the Global Hawk at their respective installations. The RQ-4 has flown a multitude of variants including the block 20, block 30 and the currently used block 40 model. Stan Zipper, RQ-4 enterprise program director for Northrop Grumman, outlined how the Global Hawk has demonstrated strategic value through many historic achievements and a collective 425-thousand flight hours since the platform's first flight in 2001 during his remarks. “The Global Hawk was originally developed for a (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) demonstration, but it was rapidly deployed into operations after Sept. 11th,” said Zipper. “In the past, it served as an airborne communications node, providing imagery, signals intelligence, and moving target indication. Over the years, these capabilities have protected our nation and our allies – when the Global Hawk flies, it alters the behavior of the enemy.” Rosales provided an overview of the RQ-4’s support to various combatant commands including U.S. Northern Command’s southern border security mission, U.S. European Command’s support to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s eastern flank operations, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s enduring deterrence mission, and emerging priorities within the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. “The American flag is flown everywhere, everywhere across the globe and on the moon,” said Rosales. “It’s said the sun never sets on our nation’s colors. Dare I say, the sun never sets on the wing of the Global Hawk as it’s flown in every corner of our world, in every area of operation across our globe.”