A Space Act Agreement between NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and Northrop Grumman established a partnership to retrofit and maintain three Global Hawk aircraft transferred from the U.S. Air Force. The three NASA Global Hawk aircraft, among the first seven built in the original Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, were transferred to NASA Dryden by the U.S. Air Force in 2007. NASA announced plans to use them for missions supporting its Science Mission Directorate and the Earth science community that require high-altitude, long-endurance, long-distance airborne capability. Media gallery.