Exclusive Photo: Crashed $123M RQ-4 Air Force Drone Fished Out of the Atlantic
By: Sam LaGrone
September 6, 2018 12:43 PM • Updated: September 6, 2018 5:43 PM
After two months of silence, military officials have acknowledged the crash and recovery of an Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle from the Atlantic after the massive surveillance drone crashed off the coast of Spain in late June, U.S. European Command officials told USNI News on Thursday.
The Northrop Grumman-built aircraft was assigned to 348th Reconnaissance Squadron out of Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D. The Global Hawk went down in the Gulf of Cadiz near the U.S. Navy’s base in Rota, Spain. The crash occurred at about 11 a.m. EDT on June 26, EUCOM spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Joe Hontz told USNI News.
Navy and Air Force assets were quickly dispatched to help recover the downed Global Hawk, including fleet oiler USNS Arctic (T-AOE-8) as well as a KC-135 refueler from the 100th Air Refueling Wing out of Zaragoza Air Base, Spain. The Global Hawk was taken to Naval Station Rota after the recovery.
https://news.usni.org/2018/09/06/exclusive-photo-crashed-123m-rq-4-air-force-drone-fished-atlantic
