A Naval drone aircraft crashed on Maryland’s Eastern Shore on Monday without injuries or property damage on the ground, officials said.
A Northrop Grumman RQ-4A BAMS-D drones with a range of 10,500 nautical miles. BAMS is the acronym for Broad Area Maritime Surveillance.
The Global Hawk costs about $35 million to procure each aircraft, but with development costs included, the unit cost rises to $218 million.
FILE PHOTO: USAF version of the RQ-4.
The Navy’s test pilot school, drone operations and principal research center for aircraft and support systems is nearby at the southern Maryland station at the mouth of the Patuxent River.