A senior U.S. Navy official on Tuesday said improved reliability may allow the Navy to buy fewer than the 68 Northrop Grumman Corp high-altitude, unmanned Triton aircraft now planned.
Captain Jim Hoke, who runs the Triton programme for the Navy, said the Navy’s plans still called for the purchase of 68 of the huge aircraft that will be used for maritime surveillance, but improving reliability rates could reduce that number.
He said he also had a team of people looking for other ways to reduce the cost of building and operating the unmanned system, which the Navy aims to start using by the end of 2017.
Each aircraft now costs about $100 million, but Hoke said the Navy hoped to drive the cost down by finding more efficient ways to build the planes in coming years.
Source: Reuters