An MQ-4C Triton assigned to Unmanned Patrol Squadron 19 sits on the flightline at Naval Station Mayport, Florida, Oct. 14, 2022. (Austin Collins/U.S. Navy)
NAPLES, Italy — The Navy this week confirmed the loss of a multimillion-dollar reconnaissance drone, one of more than a dozen costly unmanned aerial vehicles the U.S. has reportedly lost so far during the Iran war.
The MQ-4C Triton intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drone was listed as having crashed April 9, according to a Naval Safety Command mishaps report released Tuesday. The report withheld the drone’s location, citing operational security.
Several open-source intelligence analysts said a Triton drone crashed into the Persian Gulf that day after sending emergency communications following a mission over the Strait of Hormuz.
The drone was returning to Naval Air Station Sigonella on the Italian island of Sicily, the analysts said. It’s unclear whether the aircraft was shot down or experienced some sort of other problem.
U.S. Central Command did not answer questions about the incident, including whether there were plans to recover the drone.
The Navy has maintained a rotational Triton drone detachment at Sigonella since March 2024. The base also has a rotational P-8 Poseidon patrol and reconnaissance detachment.
Tritons are designed to work with the Poseidon and can aid in intelligence gathering, support search and rescue operations and serve as a communications relay.
Sigonella’s location in the Mediterranean Sea enables deployment of aircraft throughout Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
On Thursday, it appeared that a replacement MQ-4C had arrived at the base from the U.S., according to online reports. The drone was transmitting the same registration as the one that disappeared over the Persian Gulf, one open-source intelligence analyst noted.
The Navy has about 20 Tritons, which cost about $238 million each, according to a report by the defense online news site The War Zone.
The drones are built to operate above 50,000 feet and can fly for more than 24 hours at a time. They have a range of 7,400 nautical miles and a wingspan of about 130 feet, according to manufacturer Northrop Grumman.
A Triton crew consists of five members per ground station: a pilot, a tactical coordinator, two mission payload operators and a foreign signals intelligence coordinator, according to the Navy, which operates another MQ-4C drone detachment in Guam.
In November, the service established its second Triton squadron, VUP-11, at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington state, according to a statement. Another squadron, VUP-19, is based in Florida.
More than a dozen multimillion-dollar U.S. drones have been lost since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran in February, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Of those, about a dozen were lost to air or ground attacks by Iranian missiles, while another was mistakenly shot down by a Persian Gulf nation, according to the report.
