Japan Air Self-Defence Force RQ-4B Global Hawk Crash

A Japan Air Self-Defense Force RQ-4B Global Hawk, serial 23-6003, crashed into the Sea of Japan on 15 September 2026, according to the Ministry of Defense. The aircraft took off from Misawa Air Base at about 10:40 local time and contact was lost some two hours and twenty minutes later, roughly 50 km off the coast of Tottori Prefecture over international waters; wreckage was located shortly afterwards. The JASDF said the aircraft was not on a training flight but did not disclose its mission, and the cause is under investigation. It was the first loss of a Japanese Global Hawk, one of three operated by the Reconnaissance Group, each costing about 17.3 billion yen.