New Northrop Grumman drones to begin taking over 50-year-old Navy ocean surveillance plane mission

New Northrop Grumman drones to begin taking over 50-year-old Navy ocean surveillance plane mission

Here we go. Replacing the Ares and Orion will be the new Triton drone.

NG claims it has an endurance of 24 hours. And will be filling the ISR role.

Part of the Global Hawk family the Triton will be modified to operate in more inclement weather. And be able to perform the "dip" maneuver.

I find the 24 endurance to be pretty awesome. Should give us some good eyes in the skies.

A high-flying drone equipped with surveillance sensors and a wingspan longer than that of a Boeing 737 will be the newest way for the U.S. Navy to monitor the seas.

The first operational MQ-4C Triton drone will be delivered by Northrop Grumman Corp. to the Navy within the next week at Point Mugu Naval Air Station near Oxnard, with a second drone to follow by the end of the year. The two drones will undergo testing at Point Mugu before being deployed to Guam next year.

a reply to: grey580

the P-3 has an extended sensor tail can carry many many weapons


seems cool but i would have picked a different drone or made myself a clean sheet design to meet what i needed.

nothing wrong with supplementing the force with these drones however. get them in a swarm and they will be very effective

a reply to: penroc3

The Triton can cover a significantly larger area as an MSA than a P-3 could.

a reply to: Zaphod58

but will it be as effective? and waht about heavy mines and everything else the orion has

a reply to: penroc3

Different missions. The Orion and Poseidon as Maritime Patrol Aircraft. They're designed to hunt subs and ships. They hunt for anomalies to start their search. Triton is a Maritime Surveillance Aircraft. It's designed to look for surface ships and direct other aircraft to them to investigate.

a reply to: penroc3

The Triton is just filling the ISR role.

Poseidon will be doing the sub/mine hunting.

a reply to: Zaphod58

ahhh guess i was lazy in my reading.

with the video that was posted the other day with the harrier and the drone and the new software they were using looked like it would go great with this

a reply to: penroc3

That "extended sensor boom" is a Magnetic Anomaly Detector. The P-3's main sensors are its search radar and its sonobuoys.

Weapons wise it can carry the Mk 46 and Mk 50 torpedoes and the Harpoon anti-ship missile.

a reply to: Zaphod58

How's the RCS on the Triton? I wonder about its survivability in the case of a major fleet action in the south china sea, particularly against long range naval SAMs like HQ-9.

a reply to: hawkguy

It's actually more survivable, due to the extreme altitude. At that altitude they're able to look pretty far sideways. It's not going to be as good as other platforms, but it's going to be better than a P-8.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Wow, doing some reading on the AN/ZPY-3 makes this thing feel pretty remarkable. I almost feel like that sensor tech could have some overlap with JSTARS should we ever get our # together regarding its eventual replacement.

I don't know what kind of resolution they get on it though. Seeing ships and cruise missiles is different from spotting tanks among ground clutter. My gut says the aperture is too small but I'm no electrical engineer.

Electronics is just pixies dancing back and forth after all.

a reply to: hawkguy

They haven't said much about the new JSTARS radar, but both Raytheon and Northrop are working on systems. The little that has gotten out is rather interesting. It's going to be able to detect people walking at range.

The Raytheon offering is testing on a P-8A. It's aderivative of the LSRS developed for the Poseidon.

Northrop went into a little more detail on their system. It's a scalable AESA, capable of '___'I (dismount moving target indication), and the same radar can be used for EW, communications, and even to attack electronic systems.

This was always the plan under BAMS right, P-8 plus Triton.

I always thought it would be an excellent combination for Australia and its massive coastline