Triton embarks on test programme following first IFC-4 flight
An MQ-4C Triton taxis at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. (Photo: USAF/Senior Airman Michael Murphy)
USN hopes a comprehensive test programme for MQ-4C in its latest configuration will pave the way for IOC in 2023.
The Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton maritime surveillance UAV, which successfully flew for the first time in its Integrated Functional Capability Four (IFC-4) configuration on 29 July at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, is starting a test programme aimed at achieving IOC by late 2023.
CAPT Dan Mackin, USN Triton programme manager, said on 3 August that the test programme will ‘look to validate all the capabilities Triton has from current systems and that they are going to continue to have along with the COMINT and IMINT [imagery intelligence] systems associated with IFC-4 capabilities’.
Speaking during a briefing at the annual
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