Iranians reassemble American reconnaissance drone shot down in 2019

The Iranians have assembled an American reconnaissance drone MQ-4C Global Hawk from the found remains of a drone shot down in the southern province of Hormozgan in 2019.

The Iranian Armed Forces shot down an American reconnaissance drone with an anti-aircraft missile three years ago, the AwiaNews Telegram channel said in a message with attached photos of the assembled drone. 

The United States has repeatedly used these drones to conduct reconnaissance around Iran, including invading its airspace. For example, in 2011, an American reconnaissance drone RQ-170 Sentinel violated the borders of Iran and then was seized.

“In fact, this is an MQ-4C prototype modified from an RQ-4. RQ-4 was shot down three years ago by air defenсes of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the southern province of Hormozgan. The US claims that the drone didn’t enter Iranian airspace and that it was in international airspace when it was shot down by the IRGC,” the channel wrote.

The MQ-4C Triton is a US Navy long endurance and high-altitude reconnaissance drone. Developed under the BAMS (Broad Area Maritime Surveillance) program. This device should provide real-time reconnaissance information about the vast ocean and coastal areas, and conduct continuous monitoring of the surface. The drone is a maritime version of the RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV, an American strategic reconnaissance drone developed by Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman. Its fuselage is made of aluminium alloys, the wing is made of carbon fibre composite material. The V-tail is also made of composite materials. It is the largest serial drone in the world in terms of size and weight.