Northrop Looks to Australia for More Triton Orders

06 Maret 2023

The first of Australia’s three Triton HALE UAV for RAAF (photo : Northrop Grumman)

GEELONG, Australia — Australia sometime in the coming weeks will be releasing its long-awaited Defense Strategic Review. And Northrop Grumman executives are hoping the document will call for the nation to order more of its MQ-4C Triton long-range, high endurance unmanned aerial vehicles.

Jane Bishop, the company’s vice president for global surveillance, said the program to deliver three Tritons to the Royal Australian Air Force is on track, with the first model revealed to the public last fall at a ceremony on California, and the first flight scheduled to take place in the third quarter of this year.

The second Triton is undergoing payload integration, and the third is still under construction at the company’s Moss Point, Mississippi, facility, she said in an interview on the sidelines of Avalon —The Australian Air Show.

“Everything is really clicking along for production,” she said.

Australia is a “cooperative program partner,” for the Triton, meaning it helped shape the aircraft’s requirements and the nation will receive the exact same capabilities as the U.S. Navy has in its models. The two nations’ fleets will also be interoperable and able to share data.

“We’re all waiting with bated breath to see what comes out of the [Defense Strategic Review]. We’re looking forward to follow-on awards,” she said. Current requirements call for a fleet of six or seven Tritons, she said.

See full article National Defense Magazine