How Many Drones Can the U.S. Navy Buy From Northrop Grumman for $267.2 Million?

It's been more than a decade since Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) first began building MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial vehicles for the U.S. Navy, intended to form the backbone of the Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) Demonstrator Unmanned Aircraft System program.At one time, the Navy intended to buy as many as 68 Tritons, valued at up to $1.2 billion in total contracts. But the new naval drones turned out to cost a lot more than initially expected, and over time the Navy has ratcheted back its purchasing quite drastically.In fact, reviewing recent contract announcements on the Pentagon's daily digest of contract awards, it appears that the last time the Navy ordered any Tritons at all from Northrop was nearly 18 months ago, in October 2023, when it placed an order for three USN Tritons, and one more for Australia. It was with some surprise then, that I noticed earlier this month that the Navy has just placed an order for two more of these maritime surveillance drones. Continue readingWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool