美海军最新无人侦察机揭秘

    不过MQ4C Triton不能在航空母舰上起降。它的翼展甚至超过了波音737，对于航空母舰来说太大了。另外它也不能携带武器，不过它机翼下方预置的武器挂点说明未来依然存在整合武器系统的可能。但目前它最大的任务就是在海洋上空对一个史无前例的大作战半径进行侦查，通过一套能保持360度持续观测的传感设备，它能收集到任何方向2000海里以内的海面情况。这套传感设备中包括一套最先进的雷达系统，它不仅能探测到所有海面船只，而且还能识别目标到底是商用船舶、渔船，还是浮出水面的中国潜艇。

    在棕榈谷附近的诺斯罗普格鲁曼公司（Northrop Grumman）的制造和测试基地里，目前已经有四架MQ4C Triton飞机处于不同的飞行准备阶段。等到今年其中的第一架飞机在棕榈谷完成静态测试后，它会从加州飞到马里兰州帕图森河的海军航空基地。美国海军将在那里使用自己的电池进行试飞，对硬件进行验证。第一批MQ4C Triton将于明年投入使用，美国海军将从2015年起着手针对该型无人机进行训练，2017年将有大批MQ4C Triton正式编入现役。

    美军海军计划向为Triton项目投入130亿美元，目前美军已经订购了68架该型无人机，也就是平均每架1.9亿美元。这笔投资金将由整个行业和美国政府分摊。诺斯罗普格鲁曼公司主要生产该机型的机身和大量的其它零部件，包括最后对飞机进行总装；罗尔斯罗伊斯公司（Rolls-Royce）在印第安那波利斯市生产飞机引擎；胜利沃特飞机技术公司（Triumph Aerostructures-Vought Aircraf）在达拉斯生产其131英尺长的机翼；雷神公司（Raytheon）在德州的麦金尼生产传感器吊塔。另外参与了这个项目的公司还包括Sierra Nevada Corp公司、L3通讯公司、极光飞行科技公司（Aurora Flight Sciences）等。

    至于130亿美元的价格是不是太高了，美国海军认为，Triton无人机未来可以以很低的成本运行。因为它每一架次的成本都比载人飞机要低，同时还能执行更多、更高质量的情报侦察工作。同时它的地面操作人员人数也少于其它无人机平台。更重要的是，Triton无人机的设计目的是最终与美国海军的P-8“波塞冬”反潜机进行链接，而P-8最终将取代的是目前美军的P-3“猎户座”反潜机。美国海军上校霍克表示，Triton最终将由P-8“波塞冬”反潜机里的机组人员操作。届时，无人机将和有人机的界面实现无缝整合，将海军的航空力量提升到一个新的高度。

    要想实现这个目标，前提条件是美国国防预算的削减行动不能在Triton项目成熟之前伤及这个项目。不过美国海军对此表示了乐观，因为Triton项目不仅在技术上是个巨大的飞跃，而且目前已经取得了很大的成功，因此不太可能在这时来个釜底抽薪。霍克上校说：“将来我们可能会因为预算压力做一些调整，但是Triton项目拥有的支持基础还是很坚实的。”（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎  

    Triton won't operate from carrier decks -- its wingspan is larger than that of a Boeing 737, far too large for a carrier to accommodate -- and it won't carry weaponry, though the existence of pre-installed hard points on its wings suggest that underwing payloads could be integrated in the future. What Triton will do is surveil unprecedentedly huge swaths of ocean as it orbits, employing a classified sensor suite to maintain 360-degree persistent observation out to 2,000 nautical miles in every direction. This sensor package includes a new state-of-the-art radar system that doesn't just register surface ships as blips on a map but identifies them as well, distinguishing between commercial shipping vessels, fishing trawlers, or surfacing Chinese submarines.

    There are currently four Triton airframes in various phases of flight-readiness at Northrop Grumman's manufacturing and test facilities near Palmdale, Calif. After the first of those aircraft finishes initial envelope testing at Palmdale this year, it will make the long flight from California to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, where the Navy will go to work proving out the hardware with its own battery of test flights. The first Triton squadron will enter service next year, training on the aircraft will commence in 2015, and the fleet will enter service in 2017 -- years before anything else like it.

    All said, the Navy plans to spend $13 billion over the course of the Triton program, or roughly $190 million for each of the 68 complete aircraft systems on order, including ground control stations and other associated hardware. That investment will be spread around the industry and the country. While Northrop Grumman manufactures the fuselage and various other parts of the aircraft (it also handles final assembly), Rolls-Royce produces the engine in Indianapolis, Triumph Aerostructures-Vought Aircraft constructs the 131-foot wing in Dallas, and Raytheon (RTN) constructs the sensor turret in McKinney, Texas. Other collaborators include Sierra Nevada Corp., L-3 Communications (LLL), and Aurora Flight Sciences.

    For its $13 billion, the Navy believes Triton will be able to operate at lower cost in the future, as it will gather more and better intelligence at a lower cost per flight hour than manned aircraft. It will so with fewer operators on the ground than many other unmanned platforms require. Moreover, Triton is designed to eventually interface with the P-8 Poseidon, the manned maritime reconnaissance and strike aircraft that will replace the Navy's current fleet of P-3 Orion recon aircraft. Eventually, Capt. Hoke says, the Titan will be operated by crews aboard the P-8s, moving naval aviation operations toward a future in which unmanned aerial vehicles and manned aircraft interface to work together seamlessly in-theater.

    All of this is assuming defense budget cuts don't catch up with the Triton program before it reaches fruition. But the Navy is optimistic. The technology offers such a huge leap forward in capability and is already so far along that it would be hard to justify gutting the program now. "We'll probably have to make adjustments going forward based on budgetary pressures," Capt. Hoke says. "But Triton has a great base of support."