The Tritonโs modern payloads and increased endurance will allow Australia to patrol its north, north-western approaches, south-west Pacific and south to Antarctica.
The first of at least four large Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton High-Altitude Long-Endurance maritime reconnaissance UAV for the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) arrived at the countryโs Tindal air base before dawn on Jun. 16, 2024. Dubbed AUS 1, the drone departed Point Mugu Naval Air Station near Los Angeles, California, and made the trans-Pacific delivery flight via Wake Island to RAAF Tindal in Australiaโs Northern Territory.
Pictures released by Australiaโs Department of Defence show the Triton, bearing the serial number โA57-001โ landing at the air base in dark hours, before being moved into a hangar. The UAVโs arrival was preceded by an initial flight test campaign at Palmdale in California, and four months of testing and final fit-out at the U.S. Navyโs Naval Air Station at Patuxent River in Maryland. On Jun. 7, the aircraft was then ferried to Point Mugu to prepare for the long journey flight to Australia.
The Triton has gained particular importance in Allied perpetual aerial ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) missions both over Europe monitoring Russia, and the Indo-Pacific theater monitoring China. In April, the U.S. Navy announced the arrival of the first MQ-4C Triton at Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy.
Assigned to Unmanned Patrol Squadron (VUP) 19 โBig Redโ, homeported in Florida, this was the second forward deployment for the squadron. The first one took place at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam in the western Pacific. Japanโs Kadena Air Base in Okinawa received another MQ-4C Triton on Jun. 9, the Okinawa Times reported, after the first aircraft arrived there on May 20.
Australiaโs need for โpersistent aerial surveillanceโ
According to ABC news, Australia first expressed interest in acquiring the Triton โmore than 20 years ago.โ Ahead of the arrival of Australiaโs first MQ-4C, the head of Air Force Capability, Air Vice-Marshal Wendy Blyth, said RAAF pilots and crews had already been busy training on the platform in the United States.
โThese personnel received the same training as their USN counterparts and gained valuable experience to ensure that the Air Force is able to deploy the MQ-4C Triton effectively,โ she said.
The Triton is based on the RQ-4B Global Hawk flown by the U.S. Air Force and it also augments the capabilities of the P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. Its sensors are based upon components of systems (or entire systems) already fielded in the DoD inventory, according to NAVAIR (Naval Air Systems Command).
Also known as Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS), the MQ-4C gathers and processes surveillance information, fusing and networking sensor data from multiple aircraft into a coherent picture of the battlespace. It has been claimed to have an endurance of at least 24 hours, with some assessments believing it to reach 30 hours.
The Australian Department of Defense said, prior to the Tritonโs arrival, that the remotely piloted aircraft had completed the first leg of its โferrying flightโ on Feb. 16. Blyth also specified Australiaโs โnorth, north-western approaches, south-west Pacific and south to Antarctica,โ as the areas in the โmaritime domainโ for its โISR tasksโ by exploiting the Tritonโs โmodern payloads and increased endurance.โ
Australia had prepared for the AUS 1โs arrival by setting up the โtrailerisedโ Forward Operating Base (FOB) in January, which is the initial ground Mission Control Station for the MQ-4C Triton. This was stated by Group Captain Andrew Leahy, Director โ Future ISR Program Office in Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG) in the Australian Defence Department statement. โThese [will be] in support of the additional aircraft that will be delivered to complete the RAAF MQ-4C Triton fleet,โ Leahy added.
Permanent โeye in the skyโ
As mentioned earlier, based on the RQ-4B Global Hawk flown by the US Air Force, Japan and NATO, the Triton has been optimized for maritime reconnaissance roles.
The modifications include a strengthened airframe, de-icing on the wings and engine inlet, a powerful radar, maritime modes for the MTS-B electro-optical sensor, and a comprehensive MULTI-INT system able to listen to and classify adversary electronic emissions.
With additional Triton units, Australian military planners can undertake rotational aerial surveillance as permanent eyes in the sky, keeping a watch on PLA Navy maneuvers in the western and southern Pacific. Data sharing between the Australian Tritons and the ones operated by the US military in Japan in the ECS (East China Sea) could improve even more the intelligence โpictureโ of the area.
BTW, we have recently covered U.S. Navy MQ-4Cโs operations in 6th Fleet AOR (Area Of Responsibility), and in particular around North Africa and Black Sea here.
