HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The military recently deployed one of its latest unmanned surveillance drones to Guam, according to U.S. Naval Air Forces.
Andersen Air Force Base saw the arrival of the Navy’s MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft systems, the second deployment of the drone system to Guam since it first touched down in January 2020, Naval Air Forces stated in a news release.
The Triton is tasked with gathering info over vast ocean and coastal regions, according to Northrop Grumman, the contractor tasked with developing the drone for the Navy. It can fly at over 50,000 feet for periods of up to 24 hours, surveying as many as 4 million nautical miles in a single patrol or search and rescue mission.
According to Naval Air Forces, the Triton has seen significant upgrades to its sensors since first being deployed to Guam.
“We have been successfully operating Triton in Guam for several years, and now we have expanded this platform’s capabilities far beyond those it started with,” Capt. Josh Guerre, Triton program manager, said in a release.
Upgrades will allow the U.S. and allies in the region to extend “maritime domain awareness,” the release states, and the systems “demonstrate an investment by the U.S. to fulfill critical missions and ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Rear Adm. Adam Kijek, head of Commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Group, looks forward to this deployment as an opportunity for continued application and refinement of MQ-4C tactics, techniques and procedures to conduct around-the-clock MISR-T operations in the Indo- Pacific region, according to the release.
“Leveraging all the lessons we learned from our first deployment to Guam, Triton is poised to bring significant improvements that will increase its effectiveness in the battlespace, enabling our manned-unmanned team to maintain awareness in the maritime domain,” Kijek said.
“The Indo-Pacific theater is the ideal arena to demonstrate the advanced capabilities that Triton brings to our fleet commanders and the nation.”
Besides Guam, the MQ-4C has seen testing deployments around Japan, Stars and Stripes reported earlier this year. The Global Times, a media outlet owned by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, has also reported the presence of the Triton in the hotly contested South China Sea.
Northrop Grumman Triton program director Rho Carley Bruner, in a news release from the contractor, said the that “commanders will be able to fully leverage Triton’s powerful sensor suite to detect and deter potential adversaries around the world,” with the drone recently reaching initial operating capability with the Navy, a step closer to more widespread deployment.
An MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft System taxis after landing at Andersen Air Force Base. VUP-19, the first Triton unmanned aircraft systems squadron, will operate and maintain the aircraft in Guam as part of initial operational capability.
