Accident marks tenth loss of a Global Hawk variant.
The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) has confirmed the loss of a Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk uncrewed aircraft in the Sea of Japan.
The high-value surveillance asset crashed during the early afternoon of 15 September after a communications failure, says the JASDF.
At 12:58pm local time, three minutes after communications were lost, the aircraft’s radar track vanished about 27nm (50km) north of Tottori prefecture.
Subsequently, search aircraft spotted debris in the sea that was ascertained to belong to the RQ-4B. This was later confirmed by a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force vessel.
Tokyo inducted the RQ-4B at Misawa air base in December 2022. Prior to the accident, the JASDF operated three examples of the RQ-4B.
“[The] RQ-4B Global Hawk was introduced in order to conduct information gathering in areas relatively remote from Japan, as well as persistent airborne monitoring during situations with heightened tensions,” said the JASDF in 2022 at the time of the platform’s arrival.
The JASDF’s 15 September crash is the 10th loss of a Global Hawk variant since 1999. Factors involved in the crashes include mechanical failure, software glitches, human error, and Iran’s 2019 shootdown of a US Navy RQ-4A.
The post JASDF confirms loss of RQ-4B Global Hawk first appeared on FlightGlobal.