Germany Drops Plan to Buy Triton UAV for $2.5Bn, Will Buy Manned Aircraft Instead

Germany Walks Away from $2.5 Billion Purchase of US Navy’s Triton Spy Drones (excerpt)

COLOGNE, Germany --- The German government has canceled plans to buy Northrop Grumman-made Triton drones to the tune of $2.5 billion, opting instead for manned planes carrying eavesdropping sensors.

The decision to buy Bombardier Global 6000 aircraft comes after officials became convinced that the Global Hawk derivatives would be unable to meet the safety standards needed for flying through European airspace by 2025, a target date for Berlin’s NATO obligations.

A defense ministry spokeswoman told Defense News the Triton option had grown “significantly more expensive” compared with earlier planning assumptions.

Very significant that Germany has decided it cannot, for safety reasons, fly large military drones in unsegregated civil airspace. UK regulators and MPs must now consider very seriously whether it is safe to accept @DefenceHQ plans to fly Protector #drones here in UK https://t.co/1Yk0kavb1i

— Drone Wars (@Drone_Wars_UK) January 28, 2020

The U.S. State Department in April 2018 cleared Germany’s request to purchase four MQ-4C Triton drones for signals intelligence missions under the country’s PEGASUS program, short for “Persistent German Airborne Surveillance System.”

The program includes a sensor, dubbed “ISIS-ZB” and made by Hensoldt, for intercepting communications and locating targets by their electromagnetic signature. (end of excerpt)

Click here for the full story, on the Defense News website.

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