The RQ-4A Global Hawk
drone crashed during a routine training flight from Naval Air Station
Patuxent River, according to Jamie Cosgrove, a spokeswoman for the
Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons Program at the base.
There were no injuries to civilians and no property damage, said the Navy, which said it is investigating the cause.
Video from CNN affiliate WBOC showed smoke rising from brush fires in the unpopulated area.
The drone crashed into a
tributary of the Nanticoke River, a U.S. Coast Guard official said. The
crash site has been blocked to recreational boat traffic while the
agency investigates, the Coast Guard official said.
As soon as Navy personnel
lost contact with the unmanned vehicle, a piloted aircraft was
dispatched to Maryland's Eastern Shore, where it came upon the wreckage
and determined that it was unlikely anyone on the ground had been hurt,
Navy officials told CNN.
The crash occurred at about 12:11 p.m., near Bloodworth Island in Dorchester County, the Navy said.
The aircraft is one of
five aircraft acquired from the Air Force Global Hawk program. The
BAMS-D program has been developing tactics and doctrine for the
employment of high-altitude unmanned patrol aircraft since November
2006.
The drone can fly for 30
hours without refueling at altitudes as high as 11 miles. It is
typically used for reconnaissance. Of the five drones based at southern
Maryland's Naval Air Station Patuxent River, four are in routine
training and one is deployed with the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet, the
officials said.
The basic RQ-4A Global
Hawk UAV, manufactured for the U.S. Air Force by Northrop-Grumman, is
the largest and most advanced drone in the U.S. military, according to
the Navy. It is 44 feet long, has a 116-foot wingspan and weighs 25,600
lbs.
The vehicles cost $176 million apiece, the Government Accountability Office reported in 2010.
Crashes are highly unusual, Navy officials said.
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