The MQ-4C Triton uncrewed aircraft system recently experienced significant unit cost increases, mirroring what some other Defense Department programs go through every year. Prompted by the Navy, the Joint Requirements Oversight Council -- the organization charged with assessing and evaluating joint military requirements -- decided in 2022 to reduce MQ-4C procurement numbers from 70 to 27 aircraft . With the cut in planned MQ-4C quantities, the unit cost in fiscal base year 2024 dollars of each Triton soared from $286...
