The U.S. officials have confirmed that the U.S. unmanned aircraft has been shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile while in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz.
Reuters news agency, quoting U.S. officials, reported the drone was a U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton high-altitude unmanned aircraft system. No further details were immediately available, including the time of the shoot-down.
Reuters also added that the aircraft’s manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, says on its website that the Triton can fly for over 24 hours at a time, at altitudes higher than 10 miles, with an operational range of 8,200 nautical miles.
Later, a U.S. official told ABC News that the U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton was shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile while the reconnaissance drone was flying in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz.
Earlier, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said it had shot down a US drone over Iranian airspace, near Kuhmobarak in the southern province of Hormozgan.
The IRGC announced in a statement on Thursday that the US-made Global Hawk surveillance drone was brought down by its Air Force near the Kouh-e Mobarak region in the Central district of Jask after the aircraft violated Iran’s airspace.
Later, a U.S. Central Command spokesman Capt. Bill Urban reported U.S. Navy Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (or BAMS-D) ISR aircraft was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile system while operating in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz at approximately 11:35 p.m. GMT on June 19, 2019. Also, he noted that the BAMS-D is a RQ-4A Global Hawk High-Altitude, Long, Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) and provides real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions (ISR) over vast ocean and coastal regions.