The Navy’s dynamic sub-hunting duo
Future operations will lean on manned-unmanned platforms—MQ-4C Triton and Boeing’s P-8A—and a single digital dashboard.
Lauren C. Williams | June 17, 2025
NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md.—The Navy envisions future submarine-hunting operations with seamless data sharing between robot and human-piloted aircraft, and a boost from artificial intelligence to make sense of a complex maritime environment.
Platforms like Northrop Grumman’s MQ-4C Triton and Boeing’s P-8A Poseidon siphon a lot of data from their environment in real time.To make sense of it all and create a comprehensive intelligence and surveillance picture, the Navy uses Minotaur software to stitch several systems together—cameras, communications systems, and radars.
“That Minotaur framework is the same framework that will be installed on the future P-8A increment 3 aircraft that are currently under development. So in a future world where we already have that framework on Triton, [the upgraded Poseidon] will adopt that framework. An operator on a Triton will have all the feeds that are provided by a Triton as well as P-8A…Support staff on the deck will have that same feed. So they'll see, in real time, what all the operators are seeing across the board,” said Capt. Josh Guerre, program manager for the Navy’s persistent maritime unmanned aircraft systems office.
The Navy split up the Triton program, which is based on the RQ-4 Global Hawk and will replace the EP-3E, into three increments, from initial capability to mission-ready “enhancements.”
https://www.defenseone.com/defense-systems/2025/06/navys-dynamic-sub-hunting-duo/406121/?oref=d1-topic-lander-featured-river
