MQ-4C Triton
Northrop Grumman's MQ-4C Triton is the US Navy's maritime HALE drone: a Global Hawk derivative with 360° MFAS radar and reinforced airframe for low-altitude flight, it is the pillar of Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) in the Pacific.
MQ-4C Triton
Northrop Grumman's MQ-4C Triton is the US Navy's maritime HALE drone: a Global Hawk derivative with 360° MFAS radar and reinforced airframe for low-altitude flight, it is the pillar of Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) in the Pacific.
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Data trust
- Reliability
- Unverified
- Sources
- Sources pending review
Identity
- Designation
- MQ-4C Triton
- Alias
- Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton BAMS
- Manufacturer
- Northrop Grumman
- Country
- United States
- Year
- 2018
- Category
- ISR (Reconnaissance)
- Class
- HALE (High-altitude / long-endurance)
- Status
- In service
Performance
- Range
- 15186 km
- Endurance
- 30 h
- Top speed
- 610 km/h
- Service ceiling
- 17,000 m
- Propulsion
- Turbofan Rolls-Royce AE 3007H navalizzato
Physical characteristics
- MTOW
- 14628 kg
- Payload
- 1450 kg
Onboard systems
- Sensors
- Radar AN/ZPY-3 MFAS 360°, EO/IR MTS-B, ESM AN/ZLQ-1, AIS
- Datalink / control
- SATCOM Ku-band wideband multi-banda + LOS
- Launch
- Decollo da pista
- Recovery
- Atterraggio automatico su pista
Combat use
- ▸US Navy IOC (2018) — VUP-19 'Big Red' at Jacksonville
- ▸Guam deployment (2020-) — Andersen AFB
- ▸RAAF Australia (2023-) — Tindal AB, NT
- ▸Surveillance of the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait
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Main operators
History
First flight in 2013, US Navy IOC in 2018. The Triton features an MFAS radar with 360° coverage and ice-detection capability for anti-submarine and maritime surveillance missions from the Persian Gulf to the South China Sea.
Deployed since 2020 to Andersen AFB (Guam) and since 2022 to NAS Sigonella (Italy) to cover Indo-Pacific and Mediterranean, it operates paired with P-8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft.
On the development side, the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton is the navalized HALE variant of the Global Hawk: derived from the RQ-4N BAMS-D, it carries the 360° AN/ZPY-3 Multi-Function Active Sensor (MFAS) radar, optimized for persistent maritime surveillance across vast stretches of ocean.
On the Pacific naval battlefield, the Triton is the key to US Navy Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) in the Indo-Pacific: deployed to Guam, Japan and Australia (RAAF MQ-4C Triton), it monitors Chinese sea lanes in the South China Sea and Beijing's submarine fleet.
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