Flight testing of the MQ-4C Triton has been ramped up, with Northrop Grumman and the US Navy undertaking the aircraft’s fourth flight in an 11-hour program to test 250 system parameters.
Software development is said to be proceeding well, with the Triton’s active electronically scanned array radar having flown 25 flights onboard a Gulfstream. The systems will soon be transferred to the Triton for further testing.
On the basis the remainder of the test program proceeds as planned, it is anticipated the Triton will become operational in 2017.
Australia issued a letter of request for the Triton in May this year under the US foreign military sales plan.
The Triton completed its first flight – a 1.5 hour sortie – on May 22 this year.
