Germany to Purchase US-Made MQ-4C Triton Drones Instead of Euro Hawk Aircraft

Germany will purchase three MQ-4C Triton aerial surveillance drones manufactured in the United States instead of its initial plans to acquire RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance aircraft because of their high price, local media reported Tuesday, citing sources from the German Defense Ministry.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The new US drones are expected to be delivered to Germany by 2025, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported.

In 2013, Germany decided to cancel the plans to acquire the RQ-4 Global Hawk planes after it became known that the purchase could exceed allocated funds, according to the newspaper.

The Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton is an unmanned aerial vehicle developed for the US Navy as a surveillance aircraft to provide real-time intelligence during its missions, which can last more than 24 hours at a time and cover over 2.7 million square miles.