PATUXENT RIVER, Md.–A mechanical airframe failure was responsible for the June crash in Maryland of a Navy unmanned aerial vehicle demonstrator for the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) program, the service’s program manager said yesterday.
Capt. Jim Hoke did not provide additional details of the mechanical failure during a briefing with reporters at Naval Air Station Patuxent River.
The BAMS-Demonstrator, or BAMS-D, crashed June 11 in an unpopulated and swampy area near Bloodsworth Island in Dorchester County, Md. No one was hurt in the accident.
The demonstrator is one of five acquired by the Navy from the Air Force’s Global Hawk program. They have been used by the Navy since 2006 to develop tactics and doctrine for using the high-flying aircraft for intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance (ISR) missions.
The Navy has regularly deployed a BAMS-D with the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquartered in Bahrain.
The Navy’s program of record calls for buying 68 BAMS aircraft, now known as Tritons, which are build by Northrop Grumman [NOC].
The unarmed aircraft have a wingspan of 130.9 feet, can fly for up to 30 hours and reach an altitude of 60,000 feet. It can fly nearly 10,000 nautical miles without being refueled and is operated by four crew members, including a pilot.
The Navy said the BAMS-D program has flown more than 5,500 combat hours since 2008 and provides more than 50 percent of maritime ISR.
The main feature of the new BAMS is a Northrop Grumman-built AN/ZPY-3 active electronically steered array (AESA) radar containing maritime and air-to-ground modes.