Mary-Louise Hoffman
The U.S. Navy and Northrop Grumman flew a second unmanned Triton aircraft for 6.7 hours on Wednesday from the company’s manufacturing center in Palmdale, California.
Northrop said Thursday the MQ-4C Triton test was conducted in preparation of the drone’s ferry flight to the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, later this month.
The UAS will undergo a series of ground assessments before it will be delivered to the naval station, according to Northrop.
“We’re eager to continue working with the Navy during the next phase of Triton’s flight test program to speed up its availability to the warfighter,” said Mike Mackey, Triton program director at Northrop.
Triton is built with ISR sensors for identifying multiple ships and designed to fly intelligence-gathering missions as long as 24 hours at an altitude above 10 miles.
