Giant MQ-4C Triton surveillance drone flies across the United States

This morning, a giant Navy surveillance drone landed at Patuxent River base in Maryland after flying over the Gulf of Mexico and the American southwest from an airfield owned by Northrup Grumman in Palmdale, CA.

The test flight represented the first cross-country flight for the MQ-4C Triton drone after 15 previous test flights.

The drone is just the first piece in what the Navy calls Broad Area Maritime Surveillance, or BAMS. The MQ-4C Triton will be used to keep tabs on a wide area using “radar, infrared sensors and advanced cameras to provide full-motion video and photographs to the military,” according to the Washington Post.

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