An MQ-4C Triton drone taxis at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in August 2023. A new Triton detachment was inaugurated Saturday at NAS Sigonella on the Italian island of Sicily. (U.S. Navy)
NAPLES, Italy — The Navy is boosting its intelligence capabilities in Europe and Africa with a contingent operating its newest high-altitude surveillance drone recently deployed to Sicily.
The service’s only unmanned patrol squadron, or VUP-19, celebrated the deployment of a detachment to Naval Air Station Sigonella and the opening of an MQ-4C Triton drone hangar Saturday, a base statement the same day said.
The Navy didn’t say how many personnel were assigned to the detachment or whether it was operational yet. It’s also unclear if any of the drones were assigned to the base. VUP-19 is homeported at Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Naval Station Mayport in Florida.
NAS Sigonella’s location in the Mediterranean enables deployment of P-8 Poseidon patrol and reconnaissance aircraft throughout the theater, supporting U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command. That makes the addition of the Triton “a strategic win because it augments the capabilities of P-8 Poseidon detachments,” Capt. Aaron Shoemaker, commanding officer of NAS Sigonella, said in the statement.
Designed to complement the P-8 Poseidon, the Triton can conduct multi-intelligence operations as well as support signals intelligence and search and rescue and communications relay, according to manufacturer Northrop Grumman.
In September, VUP-19 returned to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam for continued refinements in tactics, techniques and procedures so it could be eased into operations in U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. Andersen also has a VUP-19 detachment.
With the war in Ukraine, Russian threats in the Baltic Sea and the impacts of the Israel-Hamas war in the eastern Mediterranean, there is greater focus on the European theater now than at any time since the Cold War.
In addition, the Navy partners with African nations to combat extremist militants and protect sea lanes. The U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations covers half of the Atlantic Ocean, from the Arctic Ocean to the coast of Antarctica, including all of Europe and Russia and most of Africa.
The drone is built to operate above 50,000 feet and can fly for more than 24 hours at a time, according to the Navy. It can survey 4 million nautical miles in a single 24-hour mission, Northrop said in a statement last year.
Since 2017, Northrop has received more than $600 million in Navy contracts to produce and modify the Triton, which has a 20-year lifespan. Each one costs $32.8 million per year to support and operate.
Tritons have been deployed to the Indo-Pacific region since achieving early operational capacity in May 2020, according to Northrop. The drone also is used by the Australian air force.
