U.S. EQ-4B Global Hawk shot down by the British empire?

U.S. Air Force photo by Airman First Class Jack LeGrand.

On 29JUL2021, an EQ-4B Block-20 Global Hawk made its final landing on Grand Forks Air Force Base (AFB), in North Dakota.

USAF photo by Senior Airman Dakota C. LeGrand.

In a May 2021 statement, leaders of the Department of the Air Force asked the U.S. Congress for permission“to repurpose the RQ-4 Block 30 funds” for other “intelligence” gathering platforms. The previous year the U.S. Air Force (USAF) asked to retire Block-20 and Block-30 RQ-4s, but Congress expressed concern for front line units which rely on the Global Hawk’s high altitude recon missions. The now retired EQ-4B is a version of the RQ-4.

USAF photo by Senior Airman Dakota C. LeGrand.

The EQ-4B Block-20 on Grand Forks AFB used the BACN (Battlefield Airborne Communications Node, pronounced Bacon) system, but earlier this year USAF officials decided to end the use of Global Hawks equipped with BACN and rely on the piloted British empire Canada made Bombardier Global Express E-11A instead, even handing out a $465-million contract for six new BACN equipped ‘Wi-Fi in the sky’ E-11As, in June of this year. (Is this the other intelligence gathering platform USAF officials were talking about ?)