An aircraft from the RQ-4 Global Hawk family of dronesThe US military drone shot down by Iran was an RQ-4A Global Hawk, US Central Command said in a statement Thursday. The RQ-4A is the original block of the drone, which was later modernized as the larger RQ-4B. Carrying multiple sensor payloads, the aircraft “is designed to gather near-real-time, high-resolution imagery of large areas of land in all types of weather – day or night,” Northrop says. A 2013 report from the US Government Accountability Office said each drone, which can reach altitudes of 60,000 feet (18.3 km), costs $222.7 million. The Golden Hawk’s technology was later developed into the MG-4C Triton, a newer range of drone.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 20, 2019 09:00 UTC