Northrop Grumman Corporation has been awarded $8 million to build the MQ-4C Triton Network Integration Test Environment, which will be located at RAAF Base Edinburgh in SA.
The NITE signals the start of growth in the Australian workforce necessary to support the Triton program.
“The NITE will enable the RAAF to develop networks for test and engineering, as well as operations, ahead of Australia receiving its first Triton ground control stations and air vehicles,” Chris Deeble, chief executive, Northrop Grumman Australia, said. “This is a significant milestone as the Australian Triton program continues to mature.”
The NITE will be developed in three phases, allowing the RAAF to progress from basic continuity testing between distributed environments to advanced integration capability development environment via server farm, network storage and virtualization.
Australia is currently scheduled to receive the first ground control station in 2022 and their first of six to seven Triton air vehicles in 2023.
Northrop Grumman is currently building long lead items and is scheduled to begin building the airframe for Australia’s first air vehicle later this year.