Expensive U.S drone crashes and burns in Maryland Swamp

An RQ-4A Global Hawk drone swooped down-- no doubt pursing some smaller bird-- and ended up on fire in a Maryland swamp! The drone was on a routine training flight when it went off radar. It was later found burning in the swamp. Price tag for the drone is 176 million.

The Global Hawk is quite advanced and also quite expensive too. Although the official price is supposed to be 100 million it has been rising and was 176 million in 2010. South Korea abandoned plans to buy the Hawk when the price doubled.

The drone are adapted so that they can deploy near aircraft carriers. They constantly survey the area around carriers. Northrop Grumman manufacturers them. The Navy has already signed a 1.16 billion deal with the company. No worry about budget cuts within the drone programs it seems. For more see this article.