US Loses 45 MQ-9 Reaper Drones, Nearly a Quarter of Fleet, Fighting Iran
The U.S. has lost 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones, nearly a quarter of its fleet, fighting Iran, per the Washington Post citing three US officials. Losses top $1.3 billion. Several crashed from lost comms links, not enemy fire, over the Strait of Hormuz, the same corridor still blocking a
The U.S. military has lost roughly 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones, nearly a quarter of its fleet, during the ongoing war with Iran, the Washington Post reports, citing three U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The losses total more than $1.3 billion, with each Reaper costing between $30 million and $50 million depending on its sensors and weapons load. Not every drone was shot down. Several crashed after a breakdown in the communication link between the aircraft and its ground operators, a vulnerability that has plagued remotely piloted systems in contested airspace before. Most of the losses occurred around the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping route that has become the central flashpoint of the conflict and remains the main obstacle to a lasting ceasefire between Washington and Tehran. The scale of the losses matters beyond the price tag. The Reaper fleet is the backbone of U.S. surveillance and precision-strike capability in the Gulf region, and a quarter of that capacity is now gone at exactly the moment sustained monitoring of the Strait is most needed to enforce any eventual truce.