Tokyo, Sept. 15 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force said Tuesday that a Global Hawk surveillance drone had presumably crashed after a part of the drone was found in the sea following its disappearance earlier in the day. The ASDF lost contact with the drone over waters some 50 kilometers off the coast of Tottori Prefecture, western Japan, around 1 p.m. The ASDF is investigating the cause of the incident. According to the ASDF, the Global Hawk took off from the ASDF’s Misawa base in Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, at around 10:20 a.m. A communication failure occurred at 12:55 p.m., and the drone disappeared from the radar three minutes later. A Japan Coast Guard patrol ship found a part of the aircraft shortly after 2 p.m. while searching off the Tottori coast after receiving a distress signal. No damage to vessels has been confirmed. The ASDF said that the Global Hawk was not conducting training, but has not disclosed the specific purpose of the flight. The U.S.-made unmanned aircraft has a wingspan of about 40 meters and a length of around 15 meters. It can fly at speeds of up to 570 km per hour for up to around 36 hours at a time while being remotely controlled from the ground. Japan began to purchase Global Hawk drones for about 17 billion yen each in fiscal 2015 to strengthen its capability to constantly monitor Japanese airspace. Three of these drones are deployed at the Misawa base and are operated by an aerial reconnaissance unit there. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
