Navy’s 757-Sized Drone Will Provide Big-Time Surveillance

[unhappycamper]

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2014/01/triton/



Northrop Grumman’s (at least $244,000,000) MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system.

Navy’s 757-Sized Drone Will Provide Big-Time Surveillance
By Allen McDuffee
01.07.14 1:37 PM

A new drone with the mammoth wingspan of a Boeing 757 is set to give the U.S. Navy some serious surveillance power.

Northrop Grumman and the Navy say they’ve just completed the ninth flight trial of the Triton unmanned aircraft system (UAS), an improvement upon its predecessor in the Air Force, the Global Hawk.

With its 130-foot wingspan, Triton will provide high-altitude, real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) from a sensor suite that supplies a 360-degree view at a radius of over 2,000 nautical miles, allowing monitoring from higher and farther away than any of its competitors.

But should a closer look be necessary, unique de-icing and lightning protection capabilities allow Triton to plunge through the clouds to get a closer view and automatically classify ships. And in recent tests, the drone was able to easily recover from perturbations in its flight path caused by turbulence.

[CFLDem]

1. Cool stuff!

[BlueStreak]

2. Which "enemies" was this designed to surveil?

At one point, I thought there was supposed to be a clear boundary between the military and the FBI, with the military dealing with foreign places and only the FBI policing the US. My guess is that this technology will be heavily used here.

[warrant46]

3. Guys riding Camels or rustics planting cannabis

Seem to be lucrative targets

[aristocles]

4. Terrorists don't ride camels

[warrant46]

5. Maybe they can drop a bomb on a Mud Hut or 2

Or wipe out a wedding procession

[jakeXT]

6. Ships sounds like Chinese Navy to me.../nt