Hey dirtybird,
I read your post regarding the attack capabilities of the Global Hawk.
I don't know where you are getting your information, but some of it is incorrect.

For one, the RQ-4 Global Hawk does not carry any offensive armamant. No AMRAAM's, no missiles, bombs or guns of any kind. BTW, an AMRAAM is an air to air, radar guided, BVR air combat missile. They are not used for ground attack. The enemy forces that we are facing in Afghanistan and Iraq present no airborne threats.

The Global Hawk does carry towed IR countermeasures.

The Global Hawk is incapable of high speed. The entire mission is flown at or around 350 MPH....not a blistering speed using anyone's metrics.

The Global Hawk was designed to be, and is a very large, high altitude, long endurance reconnisance UAV. Nothing but real time downlinkable recon imaging...it carries (B model) 3000 lbs of SAR and EOIR payload.

Where do I get my info?
I'm in the attached photo. (First wind tunnel test of the Global Hawk in December of 1995...I'm second from the left). At that time, we were called Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical Co. We designed it, built it and flew it.

Northrop Grumman bought us in June of 1999 and gained the much wanted Global Hawk contract after loosing the proposal process...along with Boeing, and a couple of other giants. By then, we had flown the first ship, tail number 952001. It made its first flight on 2-28-1998, logging six hours, reaching 36,000 feet, and landed within 6" of the runway centerline.
It was carrying a landing vidoe camera in a mount and fairing that was designed and fabricated in the engineering test support shop, by myself and R.S. (Dick) March.

No other UAV has duplicated the capabilities of the Global Hawk.

Should you like to learn more, visit the NGC website...just Google "Northrop Grumman"...you can find your way to the Unmanned Systems site containg the RQ-4 information cleared for public release..
You can update and correct your knowledge of the system...including the range figures.....

I retired in June of 2005 after 38 years in the RPV and UAV industry. I'm sure that some of the capabilities have been upgraded since then, but this info I have presented is for real.