A fully armed MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle taxis down the runway at an air base in Afghanistan on its way to another wartime mission. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson).
The United States military on June 7 lost yet another MQ-9 Reaper combat drone worth around $30 millions, this time over Iraq.
The drone crashed in Moujda, a desert area some 40 kilometers to the west of the city of Karbala in central Iraq. Video footage showing the drone falling from the sky while engulfed in flames suggests that it was hit midair. Sabreen News and NAYA, two telegram channels linked to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), also reported that the drone was shot down.
MQ-9s are primarily used to collect intelligence, but have the ability to conduct pinpoint strikes. The advanced drones can operate for more than 27 hours and reach altitudes of over 25,000 feet.
The IRI, which is made up of several Iran-aligned Iraqi armed factions, is known to be in possession of some advanced air defense systems, and had in the past shot down MQ-9s, most recently on March 9, at the height of the American-Israeli war on Iran.
Notably, the American drone crashed near Karbala around the same time Iran launched ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for earlier strikes on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut — a stronghold of Hezbollah. The missile attack led to an exchange of fire with Israel, with the Houthis in Yemen joining in by launching several ballistic missiles just before the Islamic Republic announced a halt on June 8.
The IRI likely shot down the MQ-9 over Iraq to show solidarity with Iran and Hezbollah, similar to what the Houthis did.
According to several recent reports, the U.S. has lost more than two dozen MQ-9s since the start of the war on Iran. One of the reports, published by The War Zone on June 5, revealed the U.S. Air Force’s Reaper fleet shrunk from 165 to 135 as a result of the war.
The same report revealed that the air force is now trying to purchase an undisclosed number of unused MQ-9s from the manufacturer, General Atomics, but the company currently has less than 10 of these drones to offer.
This highlights the magnitude of U.S. losses from the war on Iran, and how they will likely impact some American capabilities beyond the short term.
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