A Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator (BAMS-D) crashed near Bloodsworth Island in Dorchester, Maryland about 22 miles east of the Patuxent Naval Air Station where it had taken off on Monday this week, according to a statement from the US Navy (USN).
The BAMS-D is a testing
version of a jet-powered high altitude aircraft, the USN’s version
of the US Air Force’s RQ-4 Global Hawk, which is designed to
provide long-term surveillance and reconnaissance.
In a recent
report, the Government Accountability Office estimated that the
Navy’s batch of 70 BAMS cost $US13 billion, more than $US186
million each.
The US Coast Guard had
set up a safety perimeter around the scene shortly after the crash.
In its statement, the USN said “cleanup of the site is underway
[and] USN officials are investigating the cause of the crash.”
The aircraft was one of
five aircraft acquired from the Air Force Global Hawk program.
The
USN statement said the UAV has been “developing tactics and
doctrine for the employment of high-altitude unmanned patrol aircraft
since November 2006.”
Global Hawks have been
flown in the Middle East region to provide maritime surveillance.
The USN said the BAMS-D provides more than 50 per cent of overhead
maritime surveillance in the region and “has flown more than 5,500
combat hours in support of combat operations since 2008.”
No doubt Australia is watching the investigation despite shelving plans for the capability.
"The Australian
government has every confidence that the BAMS programme will deliver
a very capable uninhabited aircraft," said former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon in
2009.
"However, at this stage in the
development of the project, it is in Australia's best interests to
not knowingly risk incurring the unmanageable workforce chaos that
would result."
In July 2006 the
Australian government gave first pass approval for the Department of
Defence to participate with the USN in the co-operative development
of a multi-mission unmanned air system capability via BAMS, with
initial operational capability originally targeted for fiscal year
2013.
However, a slip in the program now means that the system's
earliest possible in-service date is 2015, around the same time that
a new manned surveillance aircraft will replace the AP-3C.
Northrop
Grumman has always been optimistic that Australia will eventually
acquire the capability.