Last year, the American company Northrop Grumman introduced the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial vehicle for
What is known
Australia has ordered three drones.Northrop Grumman officials said work on the Australian MQ-4Cs is progressing on schedule. The first drone is called AUS1 and will make its debut flight in the summer of 2023. This was announced by the head of the Triton program Ro Cauley-Bruner (Rho Cauley-Bruner).
At the moment, the MQ-4C Triton AUS1 is ontest stages. The drone will take to the skies for the first time in the third quarter of 2023, with handover to the Royal Australian Air Force scheduled for mid-2024.
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Ro Cawley-Bruner also noted that NorthropGrumman has started building a second drone, AUS2. Work began in January 2023. The third MQ-4C Triton is at the Moss Point plant and will be shipped to Palmdale next month.
Triton is an unmanned aerial vehiclelong range and altitude. It was developed from the RQ-4 Global Hawk for the US Navy. The drone is designed for surveillance and reconnaissance. The cost of the development program is almost $13 billion, and the price of one UAV is more than $120 million.
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The drone is equipped with a Rolls-Royce AE 3007 engine.The maximum speed is 610 km/h, and the cruising speed is 575 km/h. The UAV can fly for 30 hours at a maximum altitude of 17 km. The practical range exceeds 15,000 km. The MQ-4C Triton is crewed by four operators.
Source: Janes