The Royal Australian Air Force's third MQ-4C Triton, A57-003, has wrapped up testing at Northrop Grumman's Palmdale facility and will now transit to Naval Air Station Patuxent River for calibration testing.
It will join the RAAF's second MQ-4C, A57-002, at NAS Patuxent River before both arrive in Australia later this year.
At NAS Patuxent River, the aircraft will be tested by US Navy Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 20 (VX-20). It will also be fitted with some remaining equipment ahead of delivery.
Australia’s Tritons will be operated by No. 9 Squadron RAAF, with the aircraft themselves flying from RAAF Tindal, while they are controlled and monitored from RAAF Edinburgh.
In an Australian-first, while RAAF personnel at Tindal will provide taxi, landing and takeoff services, all maintenance on the operational aircraft will be carried out by Northrop Grumman Australia and L3Harris Australia under an interim sustainment contract.
The 2016 Defence White Paper committed Australia to acquiring “up-to”seven Tritons, sufficient to maintain a single operational orbit and have an aircraft available for local tasks. However, by the time the project received second pass approval in June 2018, the scope had been reduced to “up-to” six aircraft, according to the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO).
While it’s still possible that the number of aircraft being acquired may grow, the 2024 Integrated Investment Plan (IIP), makes no mention of any additional aircraft, with all funding for Triton buried within the “Air intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance” category.