Northrop Grumman and US Navy officials have been busy marketing the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance drone to Australian and Indian officials in recent weeks, according to a source familiar with the program.
The BAMS program passed a key critical design review on February 14, and around the same time officials went on a whirlwind trip gauging interest from the two allies who have great interest in watching the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the source told Inside the Navy last week.
“The Australian defence white paper says they’re going to require a high-altitude long-endurance UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) in the 2019 time frame,” he said. "They’ll probably revisit that.”