Navy awards nearly $100 million contract for new MQ-4C Triton

The Navy will buy an additional MG-4C Triton unmanned aerial vehicle, expected to be complete by January 2025.

Naval Air Systems Command last week awarded a $98.9 million modification to a previous contract to Northrop Grumman. The contract provides for one additional low-rate initial production lot five MQ-4C Triton.

The MQ-4C Triton is an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drone. The high-altitude, low-endurance UAV first deployed to Guam almost a year ago.

The two Tritons deployed to Guam were also built by Northrop. Last fall, the company announced plans to start building its first Triton for Australia.

Navy spokeswoman Jamie Cosgrove confirmed to Inside Defense the new Triton will be for the Navy.

"The biggest thing for Triton is the good news we're getting," Rear Adm. Gregory Harris, the director of the air warfare division in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, said at a Navy League event yesterday. The system is “operating out of Guam right now. We are really excited with what we have learned there and the growth that’s gone on in the early operational capabilities that we've seen."

Harris said the future procurement of Triton is still "up in the air with the funding." He said the Navy has 19 of the air vehicles in procurement.

"We will support and maintain those 19 air vehicles at a minimum," Harris said.

The Navy has planned a two-year procurement gap during fiscal years 2021 and 2022.