The U.S. Navy Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton long-range maritime patrol unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) became operational in 2018, yet the unmanned aircraft continue to evolve with upgrades and add capabilities that include signals intelligence (SIGINT) and sense-and-avoid radar.
The MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), is a high altitude, long endurance (HALE) aircraft that is intended to provide real-time intelligence, reconnaissance missions (ISR) over vast ocean and coastal regions, continuous maritime surveillance, as well as search and rescue missions.
The Triton will be a crucial component of the Navy’s 21st century strategy for conducting surveillance of surface ship and submarine traffic in the vast Pacific and other oceans around the globe. Tritons will work together with the Navy’s P-8A Poseidon long-range manned maritime patrol aircraft to locate and track potentially hostile surface ships and submarines. The P-8’s primary mission is anti-submarine, which makes its additional ISR role difficult to perform simultaneously, said Capt. Dan Mackin, program manager, for the Navy’s Persistent Maritime Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program Office,Mackin.
The autonomous aircraft is providing the Navy with unparalleled endurance and 360° coverage that will be able to facilitate widely expanded maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. Northrop Grumman Triton programmes vice-president Doug Shaffer said: “This aircraft represents the beginning of a new era for naval aviation.
The MQ-4C Triton aircraft can combine to fly in an orbital configuration, with one plane on station and another en route, thereby providing the US Navy with near-constant coverage of huge swaths of ocean and littorals. Navy officials have said to provide an orbit of Tritons — a 24/7 persistent ISR capability over a target — four aircraft are necessary.
The US Navy is expected to buy 68 Tritons UAS. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is expected to procure up to seven Tritons, and Japan has also been named as a potential customer. The U.S. State Department has approved Germany’s request to buy four Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton unmanned maritime surveillance aircraft.
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