Global Hawk over So Cal.

After photographic comparisons I am comfortable with the idea that I have observed a Global Hawk UAV in flight over Irvine, California.

The craft was painted red and white,, with the top section, including the cantered tail section being red and the underside being white. Those were the only visable markings from my perspective. The engine gave off a distinctively "jet" sound that immediately registered as a military craft to my ears, which is what drew my attention skyward in the first place.

It flew N/NE and appeared to come from the sea. It was at about 1500 - 2000 feet by my reconing.

I was working (I work outside so observe aircraft often during my work days) so I didn't have a camera one me unfortunately. I'll be keeping an eye and ear open for another sighting and try to get a photo.

Has anyone else observed a craft like this in So Cal or anywhere else, recently?

I've seen all manner of piloted jet's as I live near an airport and of course El Toro used to be here. Marine Corp flies helo's up and down the coast as well, even seen an Osprey a few times. This is the first time I have ever detected this craft however.

Good spotting to you, if you are a watcher.

reply to post by Fiberx


I work in Cypress & live in Fullerton & I'm a sky watcher
myself, but haven't seen anything like it. I mention
Cypress because I see a lot of aircraft heading into
Los Al Joint Forces. 3 weeks ago I spotted an Osprey
as well.

It's quite possible you're correct. Edwards is on the other side of the mountains as well as China Lake. They could have been testing cameras and flight systems but usually not over a populated area. They don't need a UAV crashing into somebody's house or apartment. Good luck with photos and be quick. My best,

Yeah, plenty of bases to be going to or coming from in the surrounding areas. It clearly was not meant to avoid detection as it was high contrast and a fairly harsh red. My first thought was that it might be sniffing radiation levels. With a 12,500 mile range it could have been sniffing well out to sea and making it's return home when I spotted it. Very eerie to see a craft like this over this area though. I'd love to photograph it and figure out it's origins and purpose.

reply to post by Fiberx


Interesting. Been trying to find audio/visual to hear the engine sounds (never been near one, myself).







You're in Irvine (I'm from SoCal) so based on your location and direction....you can hopefully use this source to find your spot and check the various aeronautical charts, to see its proximity (or not) to either LGB or SNA as it went by. (Wondering if there was a NOTAM out on it, too...not sure it's authorized...YET...by the FAA over civilian population areas? Except, of course, in the Middle East! LOL!):

skyvector.com...

If you haven't used that resource....go to the globe icon for "Charts". You may want the "TAC" for the LA area, has the largest scale and detail.

As you can see, if it was far enough West of KSNA, and below 2,500 MSL, it was in "unmonitored" airspace. (Of course, may have been in radar contact with teh Los Angeles TRACON, who knows??)

Also, Seal Beach NAS is right there...when I lived out there it wasn't acitve, maybe that's changed? (When you fly for the airlines and you don't do much VFR flying, and things change outside your little 'bubble'....).

reply to post by Fiberx


Maybe they finally got their act together at the USCG.

A modified Global Hawk is being offered to fulfill the requirement for a high- altitude, long-endurance land-based UAV, providing operational Coast Guard commanders with high-resolution, near real-time imagery of large geographic areas. Its advanced technology sensors, a 1,900-pound reconfigurable payload bay, and the ability to remain in flight for long periods will provide commanders with important new capabilities to obtain the intelligence needed to achieve information dominance in the ever-changing maritime domain.

www.theuav.com...

And to DR; the V-22 Ospreys have been on training missions all over California this month. I had a couple land at the local muni airport as they were doing maneuvers at the Army base in the vicinity.

www.youtube.com...

Sorry I suck at embedding and the vid has a bunch of noise.

I could only observe it for a short time but here is my best approximation of it's path. I did not observe it over this entire range, just extended the plot out for ease of use. I observed for perhaps a mile of flight, at the second plot on the map, as it headed inland.

skyvector.com...,-117.78559631692343&chart=202&zoom=3&plan=F.K2.TANGL:G.33.64197132295325,-117.79477369828882:G.33.752510247 55698,-117.75021815386134

I've seen coast guard choppers around SNA. The red and whitre markings would correspond with coast guard paint schemes. Perhaps this is the origin.

could it be one of these?

Definately not prop driven, also quite large with a more substancial body. It was also clearly red on top, white on bottom. Not really the typical coasty markings from what I could tell. It was similar to the pred though. Just more beefy and jet driven.

Originally posted by Arkansas




could it be one of these?

Edit: Well oops... I just realized this thread is veeeery old. I dunno how I even ended up here Sorry for the resurrection!