USAF acknowledged The Crash On An RQ-4 Global Hawk Off the Coast Of Spain Last June

After two months of silence, military U.S. officials have acknowledged the crash and recovery of an Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle from the Atlantic after the massive surveillance drone crashed off the coast of Spain in late June.
The Northrop aircraft was assigned to 348th Reconnaissance Squadron out of Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D. The Global Hawk went down in the Gulf of Cadiz near the U.S. Navy’s base in Rota, Spain. The crash occurred at about 11 a.m. EDT on June 26.
Navy and Air Force assets were quickly dispatched to help recover the downed Global Hawk, including fleet oiler USNS Arctic (T-AOE-8) as well as a KC-135 refueler from the 100th Air Refueling Wing out of Zaragoza Air Base, Spain. The Global Hawk was taken to Naval Station Rota after the recovery.
The image of the recovered fuselageshows damage to the engine cowling and shorn metal at the rear of the aircraft. The cause of the crash is currently under investigation by the U.S. Air Combat Command.
The crash is the second time in a year the U.S. Air Force has lost a Global Hawk, with a unit cost of $123 million apiece, according to Fiscal Year 2015 figures.
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