30 UAVs worth nearly $1 billion have been reported damaged or destroyed since the start of the war, and the model is no longer being manufactured.
The U.S. military has lost up to 30 MQ-9 drones since the start of the conflict with Iran, which is about a third of Washington’s pre-war fleet and is worth nearly $1 billion, Bloomberg reported. Most of them were destroyed or badly damaged by Iranian fire, according to the center.
The MQ-9 Reaper is capable of conducting reconnaissance and strike missions. A single drone is estimated to cost more than $30 million. General Atomics stopped production of the model last year, although variants are still being made for foreign customers.
In an article on Thursday, Bloomberg, citing an anonymous source, reported that “Iran has destroyed more than two dozen MQ-9 Reaper drones operated by US forces since the war began” at the end of February.
Although most of the drones were shot down by Iran’s air defense, others were lost on the ground due to missile attacks, as well as accidents, according to Bloomberg.
The U.S. fleet of Reapers is now down to about 135 aircraft, below the long-term minimum of 189 aircraft, according to Lt. Gen. David Tabor, the Pentagon’s deputy chief of staff for plans and programs.
Earlier this month, the Congressional Research Service – the nonpartisan research arm of the Library of Congress that works with open source materials – released a report titled ‘US Air Combat Losses in Operation Epic Fury.’ The document, giving an unspecified example “news article,” it also estimates that the US military had lost 24 MQ-9 Reapers, including one MQ-4C.
The procedures include a total of 42 US aircraft, including four F-15E fighter jets, an F-35A fighter jet, an A-10 Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft, seven KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft, as well as helicopters.
Appearing before the House defense subcommittee last Tuesday, Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst said that the cost of the military operation against Iran has increased from $25 billion to $29 billion that was previously estimated due to “Updated repair and replacement of equipment costs,” among other things.
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