US Air Force lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones in Iran war, about a quarter of the fleet
The US Air Force has lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones in the Iran war, about a quarter of the fleet, per three officials cited by the Washington Post. Some were shot down, others crashed after losing contact with operators. Cost estimate: over $1.3 billion. No successor drone
The US Air Force has lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones during the war with Iran, roughly a quarter of its fleet, according to three US officials cited by the Washington Post. Not all of the losses came from enemy fire: some drones crashed after losing communication with their ground operators. The potential cost to taxpayers is estimated at over $1.3 billion for that weapon system alone, and Houthi forces in Yemen shot down several more of the aircraft last spring. The scale of the losses lands at an awkward moment for the program. General Atomics stopped building the Reaper in 2020, and the Pentagon has not yet launched the process to select a successor. That leaves US forces flying an aircraft already considered vulnerable to serious air defenses, with no replacement in the pipeline for now.