US Navy surveillance drone flies mission along Cuba’s coast
US Navy surveillance drone flies mission along Cuba’s coast
Rick Jervis, USA TODAY Fri, April 17, 2026 at 6:41 PM UTC
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A U.S. military surveillance drone flew for several hours along the coast of Cuba in an uncommon sighting along the Caribbean island, according to flight-tracking sources.
The MQ-4C Triton, a U.S. Navy surveillance drone with call sign BLKCAT6, took off from a naval station in Jacksonville, Florida on April 16, flew along Cuba's southern coast, circled in a holding pattern near Santiago de Cuba, then circled in another holding pattern near Havana before returning to the U.S., according to Flightradar24, an online global flight tracking service.
The flight near Cuba's coast took more than six hours, the service said.
Similar drones have been previously tracked in combat zones around the world, from the Black Sea to the Persian Gulf, said Ian Petchenik, a spokesman for Flightradar24 told USA TODAY. But it's the first time he remembered tracking one so close to Cuba, he said.
The U.S. military did not immediately respond to inquiries about the drone's flight near Cuba.
The Navy recently confirmed an MQ-4C deployed in the war in Iran crashed on April 9.
Radar tracking shows how a U.S. Navy surveillance drone, an MQ-4C Triton, flew along Cuba's southern coast before circling in a holding pattern near Guantanamo Bay and Havana on Thursday, April 16. The drones are typically deployed on surveillance missions in combat zones.
Petchenik said his service tracked similar drones around Venezuela last year as the U.S. military built up forces there, in the leadup to a dramatic raid to capture former president Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 3.
"We've tracked them in the Black Sea with the war in Ukraine, in the Mediterranean, in the Persian Gulf," Petchenik said. "Anywhere that the United States government needs a surveillance platform."
Discovery of the drone comes during heightened tensions between Havana and Washington. Military planning for a possible Pentagon-led operation in Cuba has been quietly ramping up, in case President Donald Trump gives an order to intervene there, sources recently told USA TODAY.
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The Trump administration has tightened longstanding sanctions and curbed oil shipments to Cuba as part of a broader campaign to force sweeping political changes on the communist-run island. Already mired in a severe economic crisis, the near-total blockade is pushing the country toward collapse. The White House has also threatened tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba, including Venezuela and Mexico, and added the island to its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
In recent weeks, Trump has suggested he expects soon to have the "honor" of "taking Cuba, in some form," adding, "Whether I free it, take it − I think I can do anything I want with it."
Over the past year, the U.S. military has ramped up its use of unmanned aircrafts on missions throughout the Caribbean and South America.
Last year, the Pentagon used MQ-9 Reaper drones to fire missiles on suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, according to The War Zone, an online site that reports on military technology and strategy.
And a drone identical to the one that flew near Cuba on Thursday − an MQ-4C Triton − departed from the same Jacksonville naval base in January and flew a 10-hour reconnaissance mission near Venezuela, according to Flightradar24.
The MQ-4C Triton is an autonomous high altitude, long endurance maritime aircraft produced by Northtrop Grumman and capable of operating above 50,000 feet, for 24-plus hours with a range of 7,400 nautical miles, according to the manufacturer's website.
The precise mission of Thursday's drone was not known, though the MQ-4C is usually deployed for surveillance purposes, Petchenik. On Thursday, the aircraft spent just under two hours in a holding pattern about 40 miles off Santiago de Cuba before traveling back up Cuba's southern coast and spending another two hours circling the airspace around 28 miles off the coast of Havana, he said.
It left the area at around 6:22 p.m. Eastern time.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: US Navy surveillance drone flew around Cuba, as Trump eyes the island
Source: “AOL Breaking”
