{"id":"0dd9b549-19ef-4118-aefa-707e9cd8e6eb","slug":"iran-rq4-global-hawk-shootdown-2019","kind":"other","headline":"Iran shot down a US Navy RQ-4 (BAMS-D) surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz (2019)","summary":"U.S. Central Command stated that Iranian forces shot down a U.S. Navy BAMS-D RQ-4A Global Hawk over the Strait of Hormuz on June 20, 2019, while the United States said the aircraft was in international airspace ([U.S. Central Command statement](https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/Press-Releases/display-pressreleases/Article/2238207/us-central-command-statement-iranians-shoot-down-us-drone/)).","occurredAt":"2019-06-20T12:00:00.000Z","reviewStatus":"reviewed","modelId":"97fe3809-c0d7-420b-883c-dda8bead336c","deploymentId":"94caffca-d5f6-4067-9440-c329d1891590","companyId":"84ed1bd7-576c-479f-bcb2-d9cc0a1feb2f","dataCenterId":null,"aliases":[],"collisionRisk":"none","reviewNote":null,"severity":"serious","rootCauseCategory":"other","rootCauseDetail":"Adversarial surface-to-air missile shootdown of a high-altitude surveillance UAV; near-war escalation.","affectedUnitsCount":null,"affectedUnitsBasis":null,"remediationStatus":"resolved","regulatoryAction":"none","regulatoryBody":null,"propertyDamageEstimateUsd":null,"damageEstimateBasis":null,"bodilyInjurySeverity":null,"fatalityCount":0,"lossCostClass":null,"sourceQualityTier":null,"oshaRecordable":null,"oshaCaseNumber":null,"rootCauseDisclosed":null,"publicDisclosureDate":null,"insuranceClaimPublic":null,"formFactor":null,"latitude":null,"longitude":null,"autonomyClass":null,"legalOutcomeClass":"unknown","createdAt":"2026-06-24T04:30:10.536Z","updatedAt":"2026-09-29T20:44:14.233Z","model":{"id":"97fe3809-c0d7-420b-883c-dda8bead336c","companyId":"84ed1bd7-576c-479f-bcb2-d9cc0a1feb2f","modelName":"RQ-4 Global Hawk","slug":"global-hawk","description":"High-altitude long-endurance reconnaissance UAV. 30+ hour endurance, 60,000 ft altitude, all-weather ISR platform. US and NATO operator.","formFactor":"aerial","industryVertical":"defense","environment":"airspace","maturityStage":"commercial","lifecycleState":"active","supersededByModelId":null,"specs":{"max_altitude_m":"18288","flight_time_min":"1800"},"manufacturerSerial":null,"reviewStatus":"reviewed","sources":[{"url":"https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/air/global-hawk/","title":"Global Hawk","sourceName":"Northrop Grumman"},{"url":"https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104482/rq-4-global-hawk/","title":"USAF RQ-4 fact sheet","sourceName":"US Air Force"}],"aliases":[],"collisionRisk":"low","reviewNote":"reverified 2026-06-09 (Kimi-incident remediation): cited primary source resolves and matches manufacturer/reputable domain; relevance spot-checked.","manufacturerTermForTeleop":null,"keyFacts":[{"label":"Focus","value":"Major defense contractor with aerospace and autonomous systems programs."},{"label":"Products","value":"Develops the B-21 Raider, Global Hawk, and James Webb Space Telescope."},{"label":"Stage","value":"Public company listed on NYSE under ticker NOC."},{"label":"NYSE","value":"NOC"},{"label":"Autonomous flight hours","value":"500,000+"},{"label":"Key products","value":"Global Hawk, Triton, Fire Scout UAVs"},{"label":"Global Hawk page prints greater than 30 hours","value":"Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk page says the RQ-4 can fly at high altitudes for greater than 30 hours and gather near-real-time, high-resolution imagery day or night. The stored 500,000-hour company sentence is not this endurance cell ([Northrop Grumman Global Hawk](https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/air/global-hawk/))."},{"label":"Global Hawk page prints more than 320,000 flight hours","value":"The same page prints more than 320,000 flight hours, with missions flown in Iraq, Afghanistan, North Africa, and the greater Asia-Pacific, and says Global Hawk has been in active operation with the U.S. Air Force since 2001. That flight-hour cell is not the stored ticker sentence ([Northrop Grumman Global Hawk](https://www.northropgrumman.com/what-we-do/air/global-hawk/))."}],"createdAt":"2026-06-07T15:44:24.894Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-03T23:19:38.084Z","unitsInFieldClaimed":null,"unitsInFieldVerified":null,"unitsManufacturedClaimed":null,"unitsManufacturedVerified":null,"unitsAsOf":null,"unitsSource":null,"salesModel":null,"priceUndisclosedSince":null,"autonomyClass":null,"autonomyStatement":null,"autonomyStatementSource":null,"demoForensics":null,"exportControlClass":null,"minCommitment":null,"warrantyTerms":null,"serviceModel":null,"productionRateClaimed":null,"productionRateEvidenced":null,"teleopRatioDisclosed":null,"interventionRateDisclosed":null},"deployment":{"id":"94caffca-d5f6-4067-9440-c329d1891590","modelId":"97fe3809-c0d7-420b-883c-dda8bead336c","versionId":null,"locationId":"785dfa64-93d2-46dd-86ba-ad1ba88db7c2","operatorId":"84ed1bd7-576c-479f-bcb2-d9cc0a1feb2f","ownerId":null,"slug":"global-hawk-nato-sigonella","status":"operational","firstSeen":"2020-11-20T00:00:00.000Z","statusChangeReason":null,"contractType":null,"pilotOutcome":null,"endedAt":null,"unitsOnSite":null,"tasksPerformed":["delivery"],"shiftStructure":null,"hoursPerDay":6,"siteType":"airport","operatorConfirmed":true,"humanSupervisionOnsite":null,"locationPrecisionTier":"verified_coordinates","deploymentScale":"small_2_10","siteEnvironment":"outdoor","operatorType":"customer_deployed","sourceQualityTier":2,"manufacturerSerial":null,"reviewStatus":"reviewed","sources":[{"url":"https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_48892.htm","title":"NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) -- RQ-4D Phoenix, Sigonella, declared fully operational November 2020","mediaType":"government","sourceName":"NATO (official)","publishedAt":"2020-11-18"},{"url":"https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/11/20/nato-alliance-ground-surveillance-declared-fully-operational/","title":"NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance declared fully operational (Defense News, 20 Nov 2020)","mediaType":"article","sourceName":"Defense News","publishedAt":"2020-11-20"}],"notes":"NATO's Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) capability -- 5 Northrop Grumman RQ-4D Phoenix aircraft (a NATO-specific Block 40 Global Hawk variant) -- was declared fully operational on 18 November 2020 and is based at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily, Italy. The system is operated by the 1st NATO AGS Squadron under NAGSMA (NATO AGS Management Agency) and provides persistent wide-area ISR across Europe, the Mediterranean, and beyond. The RQ-4D can fly at 60,000 ft for up to 34 hours; it carries the MS-177 multi-spectral sensor. NATO ordered 5 aircraft in 2012; deliveries completed 2019.","keyFacts":[{"label":"Operator unit","value":"1st NATO AGS Squadron, NAS Sigonella, Sicily"},{"label":"Variant","value":"RQ-4D Phoenix (Block 40 derivative, NATO-specific); 5 aircraft"},{"label":"IOC declared","value":"18 November 2020 (NATO Secretary General announcement)"},{"label":"Managing agency","value":"NAGSMA (NATO AGS Management Agency), headquartered Eindhoven"}],"reviewNote":null,"exposureHours":null,"deploymentMilesEstimate":null,"exposureBasis":null,"customerSegment":"logistics","scaleTier":"pilot_lt10","contractValueUsd":null,"contractValueBasis":null,"customerCompanyId":null,"customerExternalName":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-11T22:10:19.596Z","updatedAt":"2026-08-21T14:22:49.453Z"},"company":{"id":"84ed1bd7-576c-479f-bcb2-d9cc0a1feb2f","name":"Northrop Grumman","slug":"northrop-grumman","description":"[Northrop Grumman](https://www.northropgrumman.com) (NYSE: NOC) is a global aerospace and defense technology company with seven decades of autonomous systems experience and 500,000+ autonomous flight hours. Develops unmanned aerial, ground, and undersea vehicles for defense applications.","status":"active","founded":1994,"hq":"Falls Church, Virginia, USA","hqLat":38.882334,"hqLng":-77.1710914,"hqGeocodedAt":"2026-08-05T14:41:24.262Z","hqAddress":null,"hqPrecision":null,"website":"northropgrumman.com","fundingTotal":null,"type":"both","roles":["robot_maker","robot_operator"],"reviewStatus":"reviewed","heatIndex":52,"lifecycleState":"active","supersededByCompanyId":null,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.northropgrumman.com/","title":"Northrop Grumman","date_accessed":"2026-06-07"}],"keyFacts":[{"label":"Focus","value":"Major defense contractor with aerospace and autonomous systems programs."},{"label":"Products","value":"Develops the B-21 Raider, Global Hawk, and James Webb Space Telescope."},{"label":"Stage","value":"Public company listed on NYSE under ticker NOC."},{"label":"NYSE","value":"NOC"},{"label":"Autonomous flight hours","value":"500,000+"},{"label":"Key products","value":"Global Hawk, Triton, Fire Scout UAVs"}],"aliases":[],"collisionRisk":"low","reviewNote":null,"atsProvider":null,"atsSlug":null,"factoryLocations":null,"manufacturingCapacity":null,"orgType":null,"burnSignal":null,"litigationEvents":null,"insurancePostureDisclosed":null,"unitEconomicsDisclosed":null,"tickerSymbol":"NOC","stockExchange":"NYSE","secCik":null,"revenueUsd":null,"revenueBasis":null,"revenueAsOf":null,"employeeCount":null,"employeeCountBasis":null,"employeeCountAsOf":null,"marketCapUsd":null,"marketCapAsOf":null,"marketCapSource":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-08T00:59:00.991Z","updatedAt":"2026-08-21T22:24:16.210Z"},"derived":{"status":"active"},"sources":[{"id":"45c4775d-7337-486d-b5a2-81ae9486a024","incidentId":"0dd9b549-19ef-4118-aefa-707e9cd8e6eb","url":"https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/Press-Releases/display-pressreleases/Article/2238207/us-central-command-statement-iranians-shoot-down-us-drone/","label":null,"publishedAt":"2019-06-20T00:00:00.000Z","notes":null,"title":"U.S. Central Command Statement: Iranians shoot down U.S. drone","sourceName":"United States Navy","mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-09-29T20:44:13.852Z","updatedAt":"2026-09-29T20:44:13.852Z"},{"id":"f1b00bce-8ace-4f69-9047-b083a5b7ccc0","incidentId":"0dd9b549-19ef-4118-aefa-707e9cd8e6eb","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Iranian_shoot-down_of_American_drone","label":"Wikipedia","publishedAt":null,"notes":null,"title":null,"sourceName":null,"mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-24T04:30:10.536Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-24T04:30:10.536Z"}],"responses":[],"statusEvents":[],"jsonLd":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://registry.deploy.report/incidents/iran-rq4-global-hawk-shootdown-2019","url":"https://registry.deploy.report/incidents/iran-rq4-global-hawk-shootdown-2019","headline":"Iran shot down a US Navy RQ-4 (BAMS-D) surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz (2019)","description":"U.S. Central Command stated that Iranian forces shot down a U.S. Navy BAMS-D RQ-4A Global Hawk over the Strait of Hormuz on June 20, 2019, while the United States said the aircraft was in international airspace ([U.S. Central Command statement](https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/Press-Releases/display-pressreleases/Article/2238207/us-central-command-statement-iranians-shoot-down-us-drone/)).","identifier":"0dd9b549-19ef-4118-aefa-707e9cd8e6eb","datePublished":"2019-06-20T12:00:00.000Z","articleSection":"other","publisher":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"},"author":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"}},"framework_metadata":{"framework_schema_version":"0.1.0","verification_status":"verified","maturity_stage":null,"lifecycle_state":null,"architectural_position":{"cohort":null,"sub_cohorts":[]},"within_cohort_verified_vs_claimed_pair":null,"cap_flags":[],"verification_depth":{"sources_count":2,"primary_source_types":["knowledge-base","primary-government-record"]}}}