Northrop Grumman Australia has signed a contract with L3Harris for the operation and maintenance of command-and-control systems aboard the MQ-4C Triton multi-intelligence unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fleet of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Northrop Grumman announced on 16 April 2024.
The interim sustainment support contract covers maintenance of the Triton’s wideband command, control and communications (C3) subsystem, which was developed by L3Harris.
Built for the US Navy and RAAF, the MQ-4C Triton supports a wide range of missions, including maritime patrol, signals intelligence, search and rescue and communications relaying. The aircraft provide commanders with persistent surveillance for the prediction of an adversary’s behaviour, enabling better planning and enhancing joint military responses.
Northrop Grumman successfully completed the first flight of an RAAF MQ-4C Triton UAV at its Palmdale facility in California in November 2023. The flight marked a major production milestone as Northrop Grumman progresses toward delivery of the first of four Australian Tritons in 2024. All four RAAF Tritons currently under contract are progressing as planned through their production schedules.
Northrop Grumman is establishing a dynamic support environment for the progressive delivery of the RAAF Triton fleet. This includes establishing ground stations at RAAF Edinburgh, South Australia, and facilitating air vehicles into RAAF Tindal, Northern Territory. The company is building a highly qualified Australian workforce across both locations, leveraging extensive knowledge and experience gained supporting US Navy Triton operations.
As part of its interim sustainment support contract L3Harris will from this month be providing seven communications technicians and field service representatives to work with the Northrop Grumman team in Australia.
The MQ-4C Triton programme is co-operative in nature, so the US and Australian armed forces will share data collected by their respective Tritons and Australia will help shape the ongoing requirements of the system.
