U.S. Central Command confirmed Thursday that Iran shot down one of four legacy Navy Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) near the Strait of Hormuz.

The aircraft was a U.S. Navy Northrop Grumman [NOC] RQ-4 Global Hawk Broad Area Maritime Surveillance-Demonstrator (BAMS-D), used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions.

The U.S. Navy Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator (BAMS-D) unmanned aircraft, based on the U.S. Air Force Global Hawk system. (Photo: Northrop Grumman)
The U.S. Navy Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator (BAMS-D) unmanned aircraft, based on the U.S. Air Force Global Hawk system. (Photo: Northrop Grumman)

Central Command said the aircraft was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile while operating in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz around 11:35pm GMT on June 19.

“This unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset that had not violated Iranian airspace at any time during its mission” was on a surveillance mission in the vicinity of alleged recent Iranian maritime attacks, Lt. Gen. Joseph Guastella, commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command, said in a statement.

Over 10 years ago, the Navy bought five of these aircraft from the Air Force as a demonstration platform to experiment with different mission areas. The Navy found it so useful it has kept flying them for years past the expected experimentation timeline, retaining at least one deployed with the U.S. 5th Fleet headquartered in Bahrain.

In 2012, one of the BAMS-D aircraft crashed during a test in Maryland, which the Navy said was caused by an unspecified mechanical airframe failure (Defense Daily, Aug. 1, 2012).

The aircraft has wingspan of 131 feet, can fly for up to 30 hours and reach an altitude of up to 60,000 ft. It can fly almost 10,000 nautical miles before being refueled and is remotely operated by a crew of four. Each aircraft cost about $110 million.

With the loss of this aircraft, the Navy only has three of the original five BAMS-Ds remaining.

The BAMS-D uses a different sensor payload compared to the Air Force Global Hawk models. It has been used to determine what features are needed on the Navy’s MQ-4C Triton UAV, which is now being produced.

Last year, the Navy said the Triton would reach early operating capability with two MQ-4Cs in Guam in late 2018 , while the service expected initial operating capability in 2021 (Defense Daily, April 9, 2018).

The Navy started flight operations with the Triton a year ago at Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC), Calif. (Defense Daily, June 1).

While the Navy is acquiring three aircraft annually for Northrop Grumman, one Triton crashed on a runway after an inflight mechanical issue and landing gear failure last September. The damage was estimated to cost over $2 million (Defense Daily, Sept. 13, 2018).