Rolls-Royce Powers US Navy Triton Trip Across US

September 23, 2014

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Rolls-Royce has powered the US Navy's MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) from California to Maryland so it can begin the next phase of testing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River.

The Rolls-Royce AE 3007H turbofan engine provides propulsion for the Triton and will also power its on-board sensor suite. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) is the prime contractor for Triton. The aircraft is specially designed to fly surveillance missions up to 24 hours at altitudes over 10 miles high – allowing coverage of over 1 million square nautical miles during a single mission. The advanced suite of sensors, which will be installed this fall, can detect and automatically classify different types of ships. The AE 3007H engine provides the fuel efficiency required as well as the electrical power necessary for the tasks.

The AE 3007H engine is part of the versatile and dependable Rolls-Royce AE family of engines, which has more than 61 million flight hours. Rolls-Royce will deliver the 6,000th AE engine later this year.

Tom Hartmann, Rolls-Royce , Senior Vice President - Defense, said, " Rolls-Royce congratulates the US Navy and Northrop Grumman for achieving this milestone, the first cross-country ferry flight of the Triton unmanned aerial system. We look forward to continuing our support for the Triton team and the next phase of testing, with the dependable and proven AE 3007H engine.”

Triton's flight from Northrop Grumman's Palmdale, CA, facility to NAS Patuxent River took 11 hours and was controlled by a joint team in both locations. The aircraft arrived on September 18.

The Rolls-Royce AE 3007H also powers the high altitude, long endurance Global Hawk, which can fly over 60,000 feet and stay aloft for more than 30 hours. Rolls-Royce has delivered every AE 3007H engine on schedule to Northrop Grumman for both programs, dating back more than 10 years.

Source : Rolls Royce