Page 78 - Australian Defence Magazine Feb-Mar 2023

78 AIRPOWER MQ-4C TRITON
FEBRUARY-MARCH 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
Katherine in the Northern Territory, with the Main Oper- ating Base (MOB) being at Edinburgh in South Australia. As such, the Triton fleet will be housed and maintained in the NT and this has resulted in a major upgrade of the base to accommodate the new capability.
Around $200 million will be spent by the Commonwealth to prepare for Triton and this is in addition to $1.7 billion already spent – or committed to – in preparation for F-35A and future deployments of US Air Force combat aircraft under the bilateral Enhanced Air Cooperation (EAC) pro- gram. (Refer Roya Ghodsi’s story on page 92 of this issue).
“The proposed Triton works at RAAF Base Tindal, val- ued at approximately $200 million, will provide working ac- commodation, hangars and maintenance facilities, aircraft pavement works and supporting infrastructure,” a Defence spokesperson said in 2022.
build it all back up again from the ground up once the US funding pause ended.
But while Australia’s decision to acquire three aircraft provided a means of bridging the gap in funding for the Triton project, Northrop Grumman – like the rest of us – is awaiting the outcome of the DSR to find out if and when additional aircraft will be approved.
Without wishing to pre-empt the DSR, ‘Jake’ Campbell noted that Northrop Grumman’s modelling has shown that more aircraft will need to be purchased if the RAAF’s re- quirements are to be met. Regardless, he said that Northrop Grumman is committed to supporting the successful deliv- ery and sustainment of Australia’s Tritons irrespective of the eventual size of the RAAF fleet.
“Our force mix studies have consistently shown that, combined with the P-8A Poseidon, a fleet of six or seven Tritons is what is needed for Australia to be able to provide the necessary wide area surveillance capabilities in our ar- eas of interest,” he said.
“This could extend from Antarctica through to the north of Asia, west into the Indian Ocean and east across the south west Pacific and the ability to generate multiple lines of effort with Triton is going to be important.”
Campbell argues that there is a compelling business case for the additional aircraft. “It’s clear that Australia’s geo- strategic circumstances mean that the defence of Australia is fundamental and in a maritime context that means our sea lanes of communication and supply,” he said.
“It’s the ability to understand our environment, and be able to achieve that with sovereign capabilities rather than being reliant upon other parties. The ability to keep our ar- eas of interest under surveillance with capabilities that are sovereign is really fundamental – and likewise our ability to support our partners in the south west Pacific.
“Triton will bring a step change in our capabilities in that region and our ability to provide support to regional part- ners will be vastly different to what we are currently able to contribute.” ■
Ewen Levick also contributed to this article
“NORTHROP GRUMMAN – LIKE
THE REST OF US – IS AWAITING THE OUTCOME OF THE DSR TO FIND OUT IF AND WHEN ADDITIONAL AIRCRAFT WILL BE APPROVED”
“Subject to Parliamentary approval, this project is sched- uled to commence construc- tion in mid-2023 and is due for completion in late 2026.”
The Parliamentary Works Committee subsequently ap- proved the infrastructure work at a hearing in Novem- ber 2022.
In addition, Northrop Grumman Australia’s Triton Pro- gram Director ‘Jake’ Campbell told ADM that the ground systems required to operate Triton remotely from RAAF Edinburgh will start arriving from the end of 2023.
“They are the main mission control and training systems, so it’s really getting close to the pointy end of this program, where we’ll start to see the systems and aircraft flow into Australia, the [first Australian] crews heading to the US for training and Northrop Grumman Australia ramping up our sustainment efforts here,” Campbell said.
MORE AIRCRAFT FOR AUSTRALIA?
ADM understands, as has been reported elsewhere, that Northrop Grumman’s production line and program supply chain was only kept viable
through the on-going build
of Australia’s three con- tracted MQ-4C Tritons. This prevented a major headache for the manu- facturer, which otherwise would have been forced to stop production, wind down supply chains, re- duce their workforce, then
RIGHT: Australia’s Tritons are being acquired under Air 7000 Phase 1B
NORTHROP GRUMMAN