A US Navy MQ-4C Triton surveillance drone vanished after a three-hour surveillance flight over the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday. The uncrewed aircraft had crossed into Saudi Arabian airspace but took a sudden turn to the northeast in the direction of Iran before vanishing.
This comes just days after the US and Iran entered into a two-week-long ceasefire pact, which covers the reopening of the key waterway of the Strait of Hormuz.
Flight tracking data shows the drone rapidly descended from a typical cruising altitude of around 50,000 feet down to below 10,000 feet before it vanished, according to The War Zone. The drone appeared to return to the Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy when it went missing.
The report added that MQ-4C’s transponder was broadcasting code 7700, which hints at an in-flight emergency. It also sent out another code, 7400, which means a loss of connectivity between a drone and its controllers on the ground.
Though the flight data indicates that the drone is indeed lost, there has been no confirmation from either the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) or the office of the Chief of Information (CHINFO), the U.S. Navy’s main public affairs office.
Used for long-duration overwater missions, the MQ-4C is a derivative of the RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drone and is equipped with a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) capability that helps capture satellite-like images day or night. They also possess electro-optical and infrared video cameras and electronic support measures systems to collect electronic intelligence passively. The aircraft can operate at altitudes above 50,000 feet and can remain airborne for more than 24 hours.
There is nothing so far to hint that the drone was targeted by Iranian air defence systems. However, if it came under Iranian attack, then it hints that Tehran has the ability to threaten America’s most expensive maritime intelligence platform without firing publicly acknowledged weapons.