U.S. Navy Safety Command report officially announced that on April 27, a strategic MQ-4C Triton drone was damaged in the air, after which it managed to land. Most likely this concerns MQ-4C Triton with tail number 169661, which that day conducted flights over the Persian Gulf.
What exactly caused the accident and how serious the damage MQ-4C Triton received isn't currently announced. Several theories about what could have happened can be found online. It's reported that MQ-4C Triton could have been hit by a surface-to-air missile from iranian Raad SAM system.
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However, this theory has no basis whatsoever, especially considering a ceasefire between the U.S. and iran is currently underway. Therefore, the variant that something could have happened to MQ-4C Triton's engine in flight, after which it was forced to make emergency landing at the nearest air base, looks more likely.
In the first scenario, it's not excluded that despite safe landing, MQ-4C Triton itself will then go for retirement, of course if damage was serious enough. Whereas in the second variant, the drone will likely be repaired without particular problems. But again, it's currently reliably unknown what exactly happened and what damage MQ-4C Triton received.
This is already the second mysterious incident with possible MQ-4C Triton loss in April 2026. On April 9, an MQ-4C Triton crashed in the Persian Gulf near iranian shores, which was officially confirmed several days later.
As in the second case, it's currently unknown what exactly caused MQ-4C Triton's fall then. Therefore, for now the Persian Gulf looks like some anomalous zone where American MQ-4C Tritons mysteriously fall and receive damage.
It's worth noting that earlier the strategic MQ-4C Triton reconnaissance drone had an impeccable reputation, since from its first flight in 2013, not a single vehicle was lost. There were no loud accidents on board. Of course, this is if we don't consider iran's 2019 shootdown of its RQ-4A Global Hawk BAMS-D prototype.
MQ-4C Triton is a special U.S. Navy version of RQ-4 Global Hawk. One such drone's cost is estimated at about $133.6 million.
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