Navy’s First Unmanned Patrol Squadron Will Operate From Jacksonville’s Naval Air Station
Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville in Florida will house the U.S. Navy’s first Unmanned Patrol Squadron, which will feature Northrup Grumman’s MQ-4C Triton UAS.
“Today's a historic day for naval aviation,” said Benjamin Stinespring of Friday’s announcement, via WOKV. Stinespring is the first commanding officer of VUP-19, the squadron responsible for operating the Tritons.
“[Unmanned aircraft are] the way of the future and the Triton is the epitome of that.”
With the ability to operate for a full 24 hours, the Triton can fly at 50,000 feet while providing a day and night’s worth of observation and data collection.
“Twenty-four hour intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance is something that will provide unparalleled information to our forward-fleet commanders,” added Stinespring, via News 4 Jacksonville.
Capt. Anthony Corapi of the U.S. Navy also spoke about how monumental this new squadron is and what it will mean going forward for the Navy.
“We've had remotely piloted vehicles in the Navy for a while, but we've never had a squadron dedicated to just that,” said Corapi. “This is the first time we're doing it. It's groundbreaking. This is the future.”
The Triton, which has a 130-foot wingspan, is expected to work alongside the P-8A Poseidon, in an effort to provide the P-8 with information it can use for missions such as search and rescue.
Currently, there are 70 members of the NAS Jacksonville squadron, but once the squadron becomes fully operational in 2018, its membership is expected to eclipse 200.
