Illustrative image. (U.S. Navy)
The United States Navy has finally confirmed that an MQ-4C Triton high-altitude surveillance drone crashed back on April 9.
The drone had vanished unexpectedly from online flight tracking sites after declaring an in-flight emergency while flying over the Persian Gulf. It dropped from around 52,000 feet to roughly 12,750 feet within minutes while operating north of Bahrain. It is still unclear where exactly the drone crashed.
The War Zone confirmed the crash on April 14, citing a publicly available mishap summary report by the U.S. Naval Safety Command.
“9 Apr 2026 (Location Withheld – OPSEC [Operational Security]) MQ-4C crashed, no injury to personnel,” the report reads.
A Class A mishap is defined as one that causes more than $2 million in damages, results in one or more individuals dying or being permanently disabled, or any combination of the above.
Navy budget documents last pegged the unit price of an MQ-4C at just over $238 million, making it one of the most expensive drones in service with the force.
The drone was developed by Northrop Grumman to provide real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions over vast ocean and coastal regions, continuous maritime surveillance, conduct search and rescue missions, and to complement the Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. It has a service ceiling of 56,000 feet, and an endurance of up to 30 hours.
The crash came little over a day into the two-week ceasefire agreed on by the U.S. and Iran. While there have been many rumors of the drone getting downed by Iranian air defenses, or even electronic warfare means, there is still no evidence confirming this.
In 2019, Iran shot down a BAMS-D drone over the Strait of Hormuz. The drone is a prototype version of the RQ-4A that was manufactured by Northrop Grumman as a part of the Triton development program.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
oh one drone lost lets s make it headlines globally shall we ? talk about desperate .
insurance pays. new drones growing on a drone tree till autumn. all is well. nothing to see here!
orban is defeated. with his visit to hungary, vance has made the whole situation even worse. couldn’t he rather have gone for coffee instead of hungary? for example, to mabus in saudi arabia or to jolani in syria.
67 yrs ago me and bob lost anuz virginity to 8 americunt hillbillies that prepared our anuz for use by many taliban goat herders
putler boasts that his favorite candidate for speaker of the parliament in slovenia was elected for two months.he will not last much longer, because golob will form a government and appoint franc križan as the speaker of parliament.
isn’t it ridiculous that i want the political career of an innocent man to collapse just because he announced his visit to moscow? that both he and janša are going to the dustbin of political history? and six years ago zoran stevanović seemed like a true gentleman and a good man to me?
i really wish franc križan would be elected and this guy would be removed from parliament. to find anything to throw him on the street. not only from the position of the president of the national assembly but from the parliament. that the smallest slovenian parliamentary party would completely collapse and disappear from the political scene. now and forever.
you are right. after that betrayal that putin and erdogan agreed on at the brics meeting in october 2024 in kazan, it is impossible not to pray every day for the destruction of all who are putin’s supporters. i don’t believe it’s possible that if they like traitorous russia, they are innocent.
well, it’s official. russia is stabbing iran in the back by helping zionism to destroy iran so russia and america can reap the benefit of oil sales. soon israel will control mideast oil. china will still be lapdog china.
the only nation not completely controlled by zionists at this point is north korea, who doesn’t have much chance. but perhaps before it falls, it can destroy washington, moscow, tel aviv and beijing to take out some of the antichrist zionists.
bastardi z usa priznajú iba to čo už nedokážu utajiť. treba pochváliť vojakov iránu za dobrú prácu. svetu mier. mysleniu zdar.
iran can’t be the one blocking ships only big donnys mafia can do that
speaking to jordan syria egypt about open palestine borders. no irans are hiding in case they been hacked by isreal just the usual betrayal by iran
nothing but games why playing for time the usa will not stop until isreal is the only player in the region and strike any person or official when it wants
buy shares in oil gold and steel
the delay of the announcement was due to the usadmin pr dept shitting their pants and having to go home to change. they have so much work to do, it isn’t funny.
many gender confused americunts here looking for husband—anxiously jibber after paying to have hebrew jizz pumped in their anuz