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New UAV to Complete US Navy Surveillance Capabilities

Oct 7, 2016

IMCMEX 2013 — PALMDALE, Calif. (May 22, 2013) The Triton unmanned aircraft system completes its first flight May 22, 2013 from the Northrop Grumman manufacturing facility in Palmdale, Calif. The 80-minute flight successfully demonstrated control systems that allow Triton to operate autonomously. Triton is designed to fly surveillance missions up to 24-hours at altitudes of more than 10 miles, allowing coverage out to 2,000 nautical miles. The system's advanced suite of sensors can detect and automatically classify different types of ships. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman photo by Alex Evers/Released) 130522-O-ZZ999-115 Join the conversation http://www.facebook.com/USNavy http://www.twitter.com/USNavy http://navylive.dodlive.mil http://pinterest.com https://plus.google.com

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Northrop Grumman has won a $255 million contract from the US Navy to procure three MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircrafts. The contract also includes one main operation control station, one forward operation control station, training courseware, and tooling.

The US Department of Defense announced that work on the project is expected to be completed in August 2020.

The Procurement decision is taken after the Triton program completed an operational assessment in February, the results and data from which informed the review process. The final milestone marks the end of the development phase and the beginning of production under the Pentagon’s acquisition process.

MQ-4C Triton is a maritime surveillance unmanned aircraft system. According to defenseworld.com, the UAS will complete the navy’s Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force family of systems, delivering SIGNET (signals intelligence), C4ISR and maritime strike capabilities.

The MQ-4C is a high-altitude, long-endurance UAS, suitable for conducting continuous sustained operations over an area of interest at long ranges. It relays maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) information directly to the maritime commander.