Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton

Northrop Grumman · United States · first flew 2013 · reconnaissance aircraft

The MQ-4C Triton is a Northrop Grumman high-altitude, long-endurance maritime surveillance drone developed from the RQ-4 Global Hawk for the US Navy.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	High-mounted, tapered
E — Engines	1 × turbofan, fuselage-mounted
F — Fuselage	Very long, slender straight wings with a bulbous forward fuselage
T — Tail	V-tail

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Very long, slender straight wings with a bulbous forward fuselage
Single engine mounted dorsally above the rear fuselage
V-tail with two canted ruddervators instead of a conventional fin and tailplane

The huge straight wingspan relative to a short fuselage, dorsal engine hump and distinctive V-tail set it apart from twin-tailed reconnaissance drones like the RQ-4.

Specifications

The Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton has a length of 14.5 m (48 ft).
It has a wingspan of 39.9 m (131 ft).
Its maximum speed is 575 km/h (357 mph).
Typical crew: none (remotely piloted).

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

First flown in 2013, Triton was designed to patrol vast ocean areas for weeks-long deployments, feeding wide-area maritime surveillance data back to fleet commanders, and reached operational status with the Navy in the years that followed.

Variants

It differs from the land-focused Global Hawk with reinforced wings and de-icing systems for descending through weather to identify ships, plus a maritime radar and electro-optical sensor suite.

Where you'll see it

Operated by the US Navy from Guam and other Pacific bases as part of a networked system alongside P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft; not flown by UK forces.

Related aircraft

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