Iran shoots down US drone: Live updates - CNN

An aircraft from the RQ-4 Global Hawk family of drones

The US military drone shot down by Iran was an RQ-4A Global Hawk, US Central Command said in a statement Thursday.

The Global Hawk has amassed more than 250,000 flight hours and has flown in support of US missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, North Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, according to its developer, the US national security contractor Northrop Grumman.

The RQ-4A is the original block of the drone, which was later modernized as the larger RQ-4B.

Carrying multiple sensor payloads, the aircraft “is designed to gather near-real-time, high-resolution imagery of large areas of land in all types of weather – day or night,” Northrop says.

A 2013 report from the US Government Accountability Office said each drone, which can reach altitudes of 60,000 feet (18.3 km), costs $222.7 million.

The Golden Hawk’s technology was later developed into the MG-4C Triton, a newer range of drone.

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