28/10/2020

Northrop Grumman begins building first Triton UAV for Australia

Northrop Grumman begins building first Triton UAV for Australia – link

Source: Jane’s

Article Headlines

Northrop Grumman commenced assembly of the first of up to seven MQ-4C Triton HALE UAVs for Australia, it announced on 27 October
The milestone saw the first jig-load for a Triton intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) UAV for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) take place at Northrop Grumman’s Moss Point facility in Mississippi
Final assembly and flight testing will follow at the company’s Palmdale facility and at Edwards Air Force Base in California, ahead of delivery to Australia in 2023
Australia currently has three Tritons in the US Navy’s (USN’s) low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot 5, which also includes two main operating bases, and one forward operating base for the country in an integrated functional capability-four (IFC-4) and multiple intelligence configuration. IFC-4 functionality will add a signals intelligence capability to the UAV’s baseline IFC-3 configuration

Overview & Comments

Australia is advancing forward within the UAS segment on multiple fronts:
Loyal Wingman – See “Boeing Australia completes first taxi test of Loyal Wingman”
Within the MALE sector – MQ-9B Guardian. See “Cobham and GA-ASI Extend partnership in Australia”
In the Army the Land 129 tender is gearing up with four systems shortlisted – See “Australia reveals the four shortlisted companies for Land 129”
All the while the Navy is gearing up for the Sea 129 tender

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