MQ-4C Triton & RQ-4 Global Hawk Thread

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
They better get on working about folding the wings then! I may have to deduct a few points! lol
If it can't launch of a carrier it ain't a true navy bird.
The P-3C Orion is definitely a US Navy bird, kwaig...as is the P-8 Poseidon. These are going to be in that same realm.

Hehehe...you are definitely letting your CAW colors show though and that is just fine and I would be surprised by anything different! LOL!
 

kwaigonegin

Colonel
The P-3C Orion is definitely a US Navy bird, kwaig...as is the P-8 Poseidon. These are going to be in that same realm.

Hehehe...you are definitely letting your CAW colors show though and that is just fine and I would be surprised by anything different! LOL!

There's where I was hoping actually that the Navy gets a carrier borne version of a 'mini orion/poseidon' and was hoping a drone like this would assume that role.
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
There's where I was hoping actually that the Navy gets a carrier borne version of a 'mini orion/poseidon' and was hoping a drone like this would assume that role.
I bet that could (and probably will) one day make a version of UCLASS (X-47B) to do just that.
 
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FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) announced it will begin negotiations on a second low-rate initial production (LRIP) contract for the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton maritime surveillance unmanned aerial vehicle.

NAVAIR will negotiate and award an advance acquisition contract first, in Fiscal Year 2016, which will buy long-lead components and other work to keep production on schedule, according to a
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. The LRIP 2 contract, which covers three aircraft, one mission control system and one forward operating base, will be awarded in FY 2017.

NAVAIR currently has three test vehicles at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., spokeswoman Jamie Cosgrove told USNI News, and the production schedule will ramp up over the next few years.

According to Navy budget documents, the Navy received $67.7 million in FY 2015, the current fiscal year, for advance acquisition for LRIP 1. The
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on March 11 for $63.7 million.

In FY 2016, the Navy needs $494 million more for the LRIP 1 contract itself, which like LRIP 2 will buy three aircraft and their mission control system and forward operation base, and $54.6 million for advance acquisition for LRIP 2. FY 2017 would require $508 million more for LRIP 2, plus $74 million in advance acquisition funding. In FY 2018, the Navy would increase to procuring four aircraft a year rather than three.

“MQ-4C Triton includes an endurance-class UAS that will operate from land-based sites around the world,” according to the budget documents.

“Unmanned aircraft at each operating location will provide persistent maritime ISR by being airborne 24 hours a day, 7 days a week out to ranges of 2,000 nautical miles. Worldwide access will be achieved by providing coverage to nearly all the world’s high-density sea-lanes, littorals and areas of national interest from its operating locations.”

The Navy had
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but was considering lowering that number because the aircraft were proving more reliable than expected – meaning the Navy could own fewer but keep the same number up in the air at any given time. The FY 2016 budget documents show the Navy currently intends to buy 66.

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Bases announced : Jacksonville, Kaneohe Bay, Kadena, Point Mugu, Sigonella and Guam.
First operationnal unit VUP-19 to Jacksonville, after VUP-11 in the Pacific, size presumably about as P-8, 7 for a VP.
 

FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
Northrop Grumman unveiled the first of five drones RQ-4B "Global Hawk" in the Alliance Ground Surveillance program NATO, at a ceremony in Palmdale.

The drone RQ-4B "Global Hawk" Block 40 will be operated by the US Air Force for NATO's account in Europe since facilities Air Station Sigonella, Italy. The system should be operational by 2017 and achieve full operational capability next year with all the UAV in use.
RQ-4B Global Hawk Block 40.jpg
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