Intelligence Agent

“It literally is enhancing a couple of boxes that are on there and adding a couple of additional antennas,” CDR Rider said during a briefing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. “There will be two configurations of Triton initially, and the decision has not yet been made if we are going to retrofit the original Tritons or not.

“No capability is being taken away; the ESM [electronic support measures] device is being enhanced to be a true ELINT or electronic-intelligence box, and we are adding what we call the low-band capability. ” Prime Minister Tony Abbott committed to purchasing Triton for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) subject to the successful completion of the development program in March last year.

“The version that Australia really wants is this multi-INT configuration that has all the different elements that our EP-3 and SPA [Special Projects Aircraft] have,” CDR Rider explained.

“As the threat evolves, you want to be ahead of it, and one of the ways we think we can do that better is to have these small, removable pods or payloads out there that wecan change in and out easily to be adaptive as the threat adapts. We have provisioned for this capability in the future. ”

System maturity

With testing about 20 per cent complete as of June, when Australian Aviation visited Pax River, the Triton program is moving steadily towards Milestone C. That is the significant point in the acquisition process at which production and deployment activities are initiated, and it is due to be reached in December this year.

“The biggest things we are going to look for there at Milestone C is producibility of the aircraft and how mature our system is from a capability standpoint,” CDR Rider said. “That maturity we are assessing now, and that is our sensors; that is our integration on the airframe. ” The Triton UAS completed the flight test phase known as initial envelope expansion at prime contractor Northrop Grumman’s manufacturing facility in Palmdale, California, more than a year ago.

“The airframe is incredibly mature and reliable,” the deputy program manager continued. “We demonstrated that in the envelope expansion in Palmdale. So now we are working on the sensors, and we believe we are going to have ample evidence to present to show that system maturity. ” Triton aircraft will be equipped with a sensor suite that includes: the ZPY-3 Multi-Function Active Sensor (MFAS) 360-degree field-of-regard active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar; the MTS-B variant of the Multi-Spectral Targeting System, which provides integrated electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR), laser designation and laser illumination capabilities; the aforementioned ZLQ-1 electronic support measures (ESM) device; and an Automatic Identification System

The version that Australia really wants is this multi-INT configuration. CDR JASON RIDER

(AIS) capability.

“We have loaded sensor software packages into all three Tritons,” CDR Rider said during the briefing. “That is what we are flying now, and that is the most satisfying stuff we have done so far. ” The aircraft started to undergo sensor testing in April. “We have got the radar, the EO/IR turret, the ESM and AIS payloads all loaded onto Triton,” he continued.

“We have flown seven mission systems flights already in the past two months, with this second software package that we have on there operating the radar and all the other sensors, and really the battle right now is just completing the integration of all the systems. ” CDR Rider explained that the program’s incremental packages of hardware and software are referred to as integrated functional capabilities. “IFC 1 was what provided initial envelope, so it was mostly flight controls and safety-of-flight kinds of things,” he said.

“IFC 2, which is what is under test now, provided all the wideband communications links, and now it has incorporated all the mission sensors in there. IFC 3 is meant to capture correction of deficiencies that we find here, and it is meant to provide the last pieces of capability. ” Those final elements of capability include: Link 16 tactical data link connectivity, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) capability for MFAS radar searches over land, and the introduction of an active centre-of-gravity control system. The third software build is due to be delivered in the middle of next year.

The US Department of Defense announced in June that Northrop Grumman is being awarded a modification to a previously awarded contract worth US$39 million for the correction of deficiencies in the air-to-air radar subsystem design, in an effort to demonstrate that risks relating to radar technology,

The operational testers plan to test in theatre, so they plan to take Triton to Guam. CDR JASON RIDER

performance and manufacturing have been effectively mitigated.

Production decision

In a report that was released in March, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) pointed to wing production as representing one of the Triton program’s most significant challenges.

“We have basically done full static testing of the Triton wing; put it in the jig and it broke the jig at 200 per cent limit load, so the wing is incredibly strong,” CDR Rider commented. “The producibility factor is something we continue to refine and hone as we go towards Milestone C, because that will be a big deal at the production decision. ” Triumph Aerostructures Vought Aircraft Division, which has been involved with the RQ-4 Global Hawk and Triton programs since the year 2000, ran into problems with its fifth Triton wing, the fourth wing being the test article.

Explaining what he believes the GAO was referring to in its report, CDR Rider stated that a misalignment occurred when holes were manually drilled in the wrong place, meaning the wing has to be repaired. But he emphasised that wing manufacturer Triumph has built three flying Triton wings, 42 for the Global Hawk and two for the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system.

Operational readiness

CDR Rider said that he expects the Triton program to begin operational evaluation (OPEVAL), which is the term the US Navy uses to define initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E), in mid-2017.

“That will be a six-month period,” he said. “The operational testers plan to test in theatre, so they plan to take Triton to Guam. The facilities will be built there, the forward operating base will be all set up and supported; they will have the maintenance in place to maintain the Tritons. And the thought being that once they complete operational tests, the Tritons will just stay there. ” What is known as early operational capability (EOC) is expected to be achieved in December 2017, with the first two Triton aircraft that complete OPEVAL in Guam made ready for operational deployment.

Initial operational capability (IOC) is anticipated to be reached in early 2018, by which time there should be four aircraft available, including the first two production aircraft, supporting the establishment of the first orbit.

And then final operational capability (FOC) would be achieved in 2025, when there will be five orbits around the world consisting of 20 deployed aircraft. The US Navy intends to acquire 68 aircraft in total.

CDR Rider declared that he feels confident about the progress being made, because although sensor integration inherently involves a certain level of risk, the systems that are being integrated are not themselves considered developmental.

For example, the Multi-Spectral Targeting System is the kind of EO/IR turret that has been integrated on the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper. “That AIS box; I could go to a P-3 or a P-8, it is the same box that is on there,” he said.

“That radar, although specifically designed for Triton, is made up of other radars’ components: JSF [Joint Strike Fighter] for instance, and some other things that have already been fielded; same for the ESM box, flying on a surrogate P-3 right now. ” The RAAF is expected to operate up to seven Triton aircraft from RAAF Base Edinburgh. The precise number of aircraft to be procured will be considered by the federal government next year.

Scouting Mission

As an effort to develop requirements for unmanned aircraft to fly off naval platforms continues within Defence, Northrop Grumman showcases Fire Scout

MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned helicopters could eventually be deployed by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) from the Future Frigates, and other aviation-capable vessels including the Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships, in an effort to increase situational awareness.

That is the vision of the Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems executive who has been tasked with marketing the unmanned aircraft system (UAS) to potential customers in the region.

Speaking at Naval Base Ventura County at Point Mugu in California, Greg Black said that he believes the benefits of introducing the persistent surveillance capability to watch over surface ships should be seriously considered. And he added that the idea of conducting a Fire Scout trial in Australia is being discussed.

“In terms of their interest in Australia, I know it has been tied to the SEA 5000 [Future Frigates] program as a potential future requirement,” Black said during a briefing in June.

“Certainly LHD has a significant flightdeck and space, and [they would] have to look to see if that vessel could support an unmanned operation, but in terms of persistent surveillance, and the kinds of things that the unmanned aircraft provides in terms of situational awareness, it is something that I think could be considered and should be. ” A spokesperson for Defence told Australian Aviation earlier this year that Australia is indeed informally monitoring the Fire Scout program, along with a number of other unmanned aircraft programs, under the SEA 5000 Phase 1 Future Frigate Preliminary Design Work project in order to increase understanding of technology that might be relevant to the Future Frigates and other Royal Australian Navy (RAN) platforms.

Unmanned wingman

Black explained that he envisages the unmanned aircraft working as a complement to the RAN’s MH‑60R Seahawk ‘Romeo’ combat helicopters.

“You can use a manned/unmanned team and really extend the mission performance,” he said. “And in fact you reduce the overall cost per flight hour, because of the reliability and the time on station that the unmanned aircraft provides, so I think that is the interest.

“The unmanned aircraft is very well suited to maritime operations in terms of launch and recovery on the vessels themselves; it has been proven many times in the MQ-8B configuration, and [ship-based] dynamic interface testing has been completed for MQ-8C as well. ” The MQ-8C Fire Scout, which is based on the Bell 407 airframe, boasts more than double the range and endurance and more than triple the payload capacity when compared to the smaller MQ-8B variant.

The MQ-8C completed its final developmental test flight from Naval Base Ventura County at the end of April. The enhanced unmanned helicopter has conducted 327 flights and logged more than 450 hours since its first flight in October 2013, the US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) stated in May.

“It was very successful,” Black declared. “The number of flight hours accumulated in a single year, the number of sorties flown. . . is close to being unprecedented in aircraft programs in terms of the rate of accumulation. And we were able to complete over 2,700 different test points, so that program came to completion.

“We are now entering a phase called capability-based testing, and that will be performed here at Point Mugu, and the scenarios become more operational at that point; it is a preparation for operational testing, which is planned in the first part of next year. ”

New payloads

Commenting on future Fire Scout capabilities, Black emphasised that the ability to carry significantly more payload would allow MQ-8C operators to consider using the UAS for new missions.

“Today there are plans, of course, to provide a radar to support surface warfare; that is planned to be included in 2019,” he said. “There is a payload for surf zone mine SCOUTING MISSION As an effort to develop requirements for unmanned aircraft to fly off naval platforms continues within Defence, Northrop Grumman showcases Fire Scout Coulddetection to support amphibious operations. ” Black added that Fire Scout will be weaponised in 2021, when it is due to be equipped with the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS), which turns standard rockets into precision laserguided rockets.

“It has really gone very well,” he concluded. “I do not foresee significant risk with the introduction of new payloads; the [unmanned systems] architecture is quite open, and the ability to introduce new payloads is a part of the architecture, so I am not aware of any significant risks in the future going forward.

“There has been a radar program that has been developed under the MQ-8B, so we have some experience with even the next type of payload on another airframe. So it is again a very positive combination of reusing the electronics from the MQ-8B and all that experience, and combining that with a very reliable commercial airframe. ” Defence told Australian Aviation in March that the RAN and Capability Development Group (CDG) are developing requirements for unmanned aerial vehicles as part of an effort to understand what types could be flown from naval platforms in the future.