Northrop Grumman Corporation has completed initial development of the MQ-4C Triton Network Integration Test Environment (NITE), the company reported on Thursday. The Triton NITE is located at Royal Australian Air Force Base Edinburgh in South Australia.
“Construction of the test environment was completed in close partnership with the Chief Information Officer Group (CIOG) and will significantly flatten the learning curve to more efficiently integrate Triton into the joint force,” said Chris Deeble, chief executive, Northrop Grumman Australia.
With the completion, CIOG will begin development of the Triton network design for Australia and test basic Triton network configuration settings. Northrop Grumman will develop NITE in three phases, moving from basic continuity testing between distributed environments to an advanced integrated capability development environment.
“Completion of Phase 1A is also an important milestone for Northrop Grumman in Australia, highlighting our ongoing commitment to supporting the Australian Defence Force with world-leading technology,” Deeble added.
Australia expects to receive its first ground control station in early 2022 and its first of six to seven Triton air vehicles in 2023. Northrop Grumman initiated the build of the first Australian Triton in October.
“With Air Force embracing leading edge technology in the form of the remotely piloted MQ-4C Triton, there is now a reliance on assured data flows between the air vehicle and those who operate it on the ground and disseminate what we see,” said Air Commodore Leon Philips OAM, director general, CIOG.
About Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman solves the toughest problems in space, aeronautics, defense and cyberspace to meet the ever evolving needs of our customers worldwide. Our 90,000 employees define possible every day using science, technology and engineering to create and deliver advanced systems, products and services.
