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The White House’s latest budget request includes funding for three MQ-4C Tritons, despite previously flagged risks of an indefinite halt in production.
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The US Department of Defense has released the President’s fiscal year 2023 defence budget, reporting a 4.1 per cent increase (US$30.7 billion or $40.9 billion) in total spending to $773 billion ($1.03 trillion).
This includes:
- US$56.5 billion ($75.4 billion) for air power platforms and systems;
- over US$40.8 billion ($54.4 billion) for maritime capability;
- almost US$12.6 billion ($16.8 billion) to modernise Army and Marine Corps fighting vehicles; and
- over US$130.1 billion ($173.7 billion) for research and development (R&D).
Notably, the FY23 budget request includes a total of US$587.8 million ($785.1 million) in funding for the development of three Northrop Grumman-built MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) platforms for the US Navy.
This comes despite previous reports suggesting the program could be scrapped following a halt in production due to an absence of funding in the FY21 budget.
Such reports reverberated across the Australian defence community, given the Commonwealth government’s commitment to procure at least six of the unmanned aerial systems as part of AIR 7000 Phase 1B program.
Northrop is currently contracted to develop three MQ-4C Tritons for the Royal Australian Air Force.
In December, Northrop Grumman announced an aircraft fuselage was mounted on the one-piece wing of Australia’s first MQ-4C Triton, on track for delivery in 2023.
This followed Northrop Grumman Australia’s delivery of the Triton Network Integration Test Environment (NITE) to Defence ahead of schedule.
Located at RAAF Base Edinburgh, NITE is expected to support the Chief Information Officer Group (CIOG) to configure and test the Triton network interfaces and systems ahead of delivery.
The Tritons are tipped to deliver over 24-hour endurance, collecting essential ISR data over land and sea to enable rapid, informed decision-making.
The HALE systems have also been designed to support future connectivity with the joint force, leveraging advanced autonomy and artificial intelligence/machine learning.
[Related: Australian MQ-4C Triton one step closer to delivery]
