Syrian Air Defenses Shot Down Two American RQ-21 Drones Over Raqqa (Photos)

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Syrian air defenses shot down two American-made drones over the northern governorate of Raqqa, the Syrian Ministry of Defense announced on March 1, marking the first such incident in more than nine years.

The ministry released photos showing the wreckage of what appears to be two American-made Boeing Insitu RQ-21A Blackjack drones.

The RQ-21A was designed to provide forward reconnaissance. It can be launched on land or on a ship by a rail and land using a “skyhook” recovery system, where a vertical wire must be hooked onto its wing; when on the ground, the launch and recovery systems are towable by vehicles.

The drone has an endurance of 16 hours, an operational range of 93 kilometers. It can carry an 18 kg payload, typically a day/night electro-optical system. The cost of a single unit was estimated at $8,8 millions back in 2013.

The RQ-21A is known to be in service with the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The two drones shot down by Syrian air defenses were likely launched by marines units deployed in the northeastern governorates of al-Hasakah and Deir Ezzor.

The Syrian military controls much of the southern countryside of Raqqa, aside from the key town of Tabqa which is held by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) along with the rest of the governorate, including the city center.

Around two years ago, there were reports of the Russian military group in Syria deploying air defense systems at the Tabqa Air Base in coordination with the SDF. However, this was later denied. The two RQ-21As were most likely shot down by Syrian troops, using anti-aircraft machine guns or man-portable air defense systems.

In the same statement announcing the downing of the American drones, the Syrian MoD said that five other drones were downed over the countryside of the northwestern governorate of Idlib. However, four of these drones were locally-made for one-way attack missions and the remaining one was a commercially-available quadcopter. The drones were most likely launched by al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, which controls much of Idlib and nearby areas.

The U.S. Central Command has not yet announced losing any drones over Syria. It is unclear what exactly the drones were doing over the government-held part of Raqqa.

In recent weeks, ISIS cells increased their activities in the southern countryside of Raqqa, attacking not only the Syrian military but also civilians.

On February 26, a landmine that was planted by the terrorist group exploded near the town of Resafa killing at least 15 civilians and wounding more than eight others who were hunting for desert truffles, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based pro-opposition monitoring group.

Syria and its close ally Russia has for long accused the U.S. of supporting terrorists in that part of the country from its bases in the northern region and a large garrison based in the southeastern area of al-Tanf.

U.S. forces in Syria came under attack dozens of times after the outbreak of the Israeli war on the Palestinian Gaza Strip, with Iranian-backed Iraqi armed factions claiming responsibility for the vast majority of the attacks. The U.S. increased its military presence in the war-torn country during this period.

The Syrian military rarely interacts with U.S. forces. However, it fired at American drones in the past. A U.S. MQ-1 Predator combat drone was shot down by a Syrian S-125 medium-range air defense system while on an intelligence flight over the western governorate of Lattakia on March 17 of 2015.

The downing of the two RQ-21A drones over Raqqa represent a serious development. Such acts could increase pressure on Washington to withdraw its forces from Syria.

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