Northrop Wins $65M For US Navy, Australia’s MQ-4C Triton UAV

Northrop Grumman has won a $65 million contract for long-lead components for the manufacture and delivery of three low-rate initial production Lot 5 MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft meant for US Navy and government of Australia.

In addition, this contract provides equipment and associated materials for three ground stations for US Navy and government of Australia, the US Department of Defense said in a statement Wednesday.

The MQ-4C Triton is a high altitude, long endurance drone devveloped under the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) program. The system is intended to provide real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions (ISR) over vast ocean and coastal regions, continuous maritime surveillance, conduct search and rescue (SAR) missions, and to complement the Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. Its primary surveillance sensor is an AN/ZPY-3 Multi-Function Active Sensor (MFAS) X-band AESA radar, which is capable of a 360-degree field-of-regard, allowing a MQ-4C Triton to survey over 7 million square kilometres of ocean within a 24-hour period.

Work is expected to be completed in June 2020.