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Now that the EP-3 is gone...

Llarry

Well-Known Member
...and replaced by the MQ-4C, I note in looking at the FY2025 Navy Air procurement budget (FY25 APN for budget geeks) that the MQ-4C, once touted as the greatest thing since sliced bread for world-wide maritime domain awareness and destined to be produced until the Navy had 68 airframes, has now been truncated at 22 airframes. Clearly the VUP business is not a growth industry! What happened?


MQ-4C Triton.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 2015 MQ-4C brief.pdf
    1.8 MB · Views: 1

Waveoff

Per Diem Mafia
None
The EP-3 has no direct replacement and the mission of SIGINT is not a 1/1 swap with triton. VQ personnel have not been assessed directly into VUP despite some people choosing to take their talents there.
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Other than capacity, any reason why Rivet Joint can't do the job in the interim? RJ is more or less functionally equivalent. TBH, so much of this stuff is being done by NTM these days, we may not need as much capacity as we did 20 years ago.
 

Waveoff

Per Diem Mafia
None
Word is CENTCOM no longer having human beings to talk to onsta is stressing them out. When you induce a signal detect, to transmit, to reception at ground station, analysis, re-transmit, to then hopefully received by the comm suite of a fighter… seems like we are assuming a lot of pathways are working fine and dandy.

If only there was another recent platform transition in the realm of MPRA to a trusted and reliable airframe in recent history they could pull from…
 

Dontcallmegump

Well-Known Member
pilot
Word is CENTCOM no longer having human beings to talk to onsta is stressing them out. When you induce a signal detect, to transmit, to reception at ground station, analysis, re-transmit, to then hopefully received by the comm suite of a fighter… seems like we are assuming a lot of pathways are working fine and dandy.

If only there was another recent platform transition in the realm of MPRA to a trusted and reliable airframe in recent history they could pull from…
If that glorious day comes to pass, the heros you need will be waiting...

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