US confirms costliest air loss in Iran war: A drone twice the price of F-35 jet

Washington (TIP): The United States has lost one of its most advanced and expensive surveillance drones, the MQ-4C Triton, in the Persian Gulf, amid the war in Iran. The drone costs around $200–240 million, which is approximately twice the price of two Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets, upgraded versions of which cost nearly $100 million. The MQ-4C drone was reportedly missing after sending out an emergency signal “code 7700 alert” during an operation near the Strait of Hormuz on April 9. The United States Naval Command confirmed the loss of one MQ-4C in its mishap summary.
According to the mishap summary released by the US Navy, the high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) unmanned surveillance aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf. Under the classification system used by the United States Department of War, any incident involving damage exceeding $2.5 million is termed a Class A mishap. The reconnaissance aircraft involved in the latest incident to be worth around $240–250 million, according to US-based CBS News.On April 9, news reports had suggested that the MQ-4C drone was shot down by the Iranian air defences, but now, the US Navy Command has said that the drone crashed.