The Lone Ranger

Defence gears up for the guardian of the seas

The first of Australia’s new Triton high altitude unmanned surveillance aircraft arrives in 2023 to take its place alongside the P-8A Poseidon manned maritime patrol aircraft and MQ-9 Predator armed UAVs, in another step on the RAAF’s journey to becoming a true fifth generation air force.

Defence has big plans for Triton, which can stay aloft for 24 hours and watch over 2.5 million square kilometres of ocean, far out into the Indian and Pacific Oceans and south to Macquarie and Heard Islands in the Antarctic.