Australia to contract second MQ-4C Triton UAV

The US Department of Defense (DoD) announced on 18 February that it is to issue Northrop Grumman with a sole-source contract to supply Australia with an additional MQ-4C Triton high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

Australia is to shortly contract the second of six MQ-4C Triton HAE UAVs it expects to receive from 2023 to 2025. (US Navy)

The notification posted on the US government’s beta.sam.gov website solidifies the announcement made in March 2019 by Australian Defence Minister Christopher Pyne, who said that this second Triton will be acquired as part of the country’s wider plans to field six such platforms by 2025.

No timeline or value for the expected contract was disclosed.

With the first Triton set to enter Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) service in 2023, the service plans to use the unmanned aircraft in conjunction with its fleet of manned Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime multimission aircraft (MMAs).

The MQ-4C Triton has been developed from the Block 30 RQ-4N naval variant of the RQ-4 Global Hawk HALE UAV to provide the USN with a persistent maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability in support of a full range of military operations. Designed for high-altitude, long-endurance ISR tasks, the Triton has a range of about 2,000 n miles and, with an endurance of 24 hours, will be able to cover more than 2.7 million sq miles in a single mission. Its payload primarily comprises the AN/ZPY-3 multifunction active-sensor radar.

All six Tritons will be based at RAAF Base Edinburgh in South Australia.