U.S. Navy Triton spy drone gets stuck at runway’s end

A U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton surveillance drone ended up stuck at the end of a runway beside the St. Johns River at Naval Station Mayport, Florida, a photo released by open-source account TheIntelFrog shows.

The image, posted on X, shows the large unmanned aircraft off the end of Runway 5, the strip that runs toward the river near where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. The account joked that the drone “got stuck trying to take a drink” from the river.

The U.S. Navy had not publicly commented on the incident. It is not clear when it happened, whether the drone was landing or taking off, what caused it to leave the runway, or how badly it was damaged. Because the Triton flies without a crew aboard, no one was in the aircraft.

The MQ-4C Triton is a high-altitude, long-endurance drone built by Northrop Grumman for maritime surveillance. It is a naval version of the U.S. Air Force’s RQ-4 Global Hawk, strengthened and fitted with de-icing and lightning protection so it can drop down through clouds to get a closer look at ships. The Triton carries maritime radar, electro-optical and infrared cameras, and electronic sensors, and it works alongside the Navy’s P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft.

Naval Station Mayport, at the mouth of the St. Johns River near Jacksonville, is the East Coast home of the Triton fleet. The U.S. Navy chose the base in 2017 as the operating site for the aircraft and their maintenance crews, while the pilots and sensor operators fly the missions remotely from nearby Naval Air Station Jacksonville. The first Triton arrived at Mayport in December 2021 after a deployment to Guam.

The drones belong to Unmanned Patrol Squadron 19, known as “Big Red,” the Navy’s first all-unmanned aviation squadron. The squadron also flies Tritons from forward bases, including Guam and Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy.

Mayport-based Tritons have been busy closer to home. In January, a Triton flew a nine-hour surveillance mission over the Caribbean north of Venezuela after taking off from Mayport, The Defence Blog reported, based on public flight-tracking data.

This is not the first mishap for the squadron. In 2020, VUP-19 temporarily stood down operations to investigate a Triton crash-landing, USNI News reported.