DRONELEDGER / Press factsheet

RQ-4 Global Hawk

A compact selection from this profile, with sources and limits. Other configurations and additional measurements remain in the full profile.

Full profile and archive

A US high-altitude long-endurance reconnaissance family. Its incident relevance includes the RQ-4A BAMS-D aircraft lost near the Strait of Hormuz in June 2019. That naval demonstrator must not be relabelled MQ-4C Triton. Current RQ-4 fact-sheet dimensions describe another configuration and are not used to reconstruct the aircraft lost in that event.^[1][2][3]

Public-source profile. Performance claims are attributed; type links do not verify an incident identification.

Schematic top view of the general configuration. Not to scale and not an exact depiction of the model.

The numbers, with their sources

Body length	14.5 m^[3]RQ-4B · USAF fact sheet current as of October 2014, not RQ-4A BAMS-D · 2014 Official report; not an independent test
Wingspan	39.8 m^[3]RQ-4B · USAF fact sheet current as of October 2014, not RQ-4A BAMS-D · 2014 Official report; not an independent test
Take-off mass	≤ 14628 kg^[3]RQ-4B · USAF fact sheet current as of October 2014, not RQ-4A BAMS-D · 2014 Published upper limit
Payload	1360 kg^[3]RQ-4B · USAF fact sheet current as of October 2014, not RQ-4A BAMS-D · 2014 Official report; not an independent test
Endurance	> 34 h^[3]RQ-4B · USAF fact sheet current as of October 2014, not RQ-4A BAMS-D · 2014 Published lower limit

Form, sound & identification limits

CENTCOM’s statement explicitly identifies the lost aircraft as RQ-4A BAMS-D and gives the US account of disputed airspace. This is an attributed party account, not an independently adjudicated border finding. No flight path or incident coordinates are reproduced.^[2]
Northrop Grumman independently describes the family’s design and ISR role. The Air Force’s 39.8 m span belongs to its fact sheet marked “current as of October 2014”, not a 2026 fleet specification. The source’s rounded metric dimensions are retained; no precision is invented by averaging feet and metres.^[1][3]
Global Hawk, the EQ-4 communications configuration and MQ-4C Triton have different sensors and airframes. This profile does not infer sensor coverage, current deployment locations or a Triton incident from a Global Hawk report.^[1][3]

Shape or sound alone cannot identify a drone. Follow local public-safety alerts; do not approach wreckage.

Source notebook

Northrop Grumman · Global Hawk programme and persistent ISR
Publication date not stated · Source consulted: 2026-11-01 · Manufacturer claim
US Central Command · RQ-4A BAMS-D loss statement
2019-06-20 · Source consulted: 2026-11-01 · Official report; not an independent test
Consulted via search index; direct page unavailable
US Air Force · RQ-4 Global Hawk fact sheet (current as of October 2014)
Publication date not stated · Source consulted: 2026-11-01 · Official report; not an independent test
Consulted via search index; direct page unavailable

Cite this profile

DroneLedger. RQ-4 Global Hawk. 2026-11-01. https://droneincidents.com/drones/rq-4-global-hawk/editions/2026-11-01/

Our text, data and schematic drawings: CC BY 4.0, credit DroneLedger and link to the profile. Linked publications and quoted passages keep their own rights.