Northrop Unveils New Maritime ISR Drone
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Northrop Grumman officially unveiled a maritime surveillance drone during a Thursday event at the company’s manufacturing facility in Palmdale, Calif.
The company said the MQ-4C Triton works independently and with other fleet resources.
The aircraft will serve as the unmanned component of the Navy’s maritime patrol reconnaissance force on the open ocean and littoral regions.
Currently, the Navy’s Fifth Fleet uses a Block 10 RQ-4 armed with maritime sensors.
The BAMS UAS program is under the supervision of the Navy’s program executive office for unmanned aviation and strike systems and the branch’s program office for persistent maritime unmanned aircraft systems.
According to AOL Defense, the drone contains an ITT Exelis-made radar roughly the size of two batteries.