War in Iran: The United States has reportedly lost a quarter of its Reaper drone fleet since the start of the conflict

Another Reaper mowed down by the Iranians. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards said Tuesday in a statement published on their Sepah News site that units of their air defense “identified and shot down an MQ-9 drone.”

The air defense also “fired on an RQ-4 drone and an F-35 fighter plane,” they added, without specifying the date of these incidents.

He was “the most valuable element” during Operation Epic Fury

Before this strike, Iran would have destroyed, since the start of the conflict, 24 MQ-9 Reaper drones used by American forces, according to a memo from the research service of the American Congress, revealed a few days ago by Bloomberg. At approximately $30 million each (depending on versions and equipment), this represents an estimated loss of approximately $720 million, and some 20% of the Pentagon’s pre-war stock of this unmanned system. According to a source close to the matter, many of these drones were shot down in flight by Iranian fire, while others were destroyed on the ground by missile strikes or during accidents.

The MQ-9 Reaper, manufactured by General Atomics, is a MALE (Medium Altitude Long Endurance) drone frequently used for around twenty years, for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. He can also perform precision strikes. The French Air Force has also been equipped with Reaper drones since 2018. It has a dozen, operated by the 33rd Esra (Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Attack Wing).

Presented as one of the flagship attack and reconnaissance drones used by the United States, is the Reaper now outdated? During a parliamentary hearing last week, the Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, General Kenneth S. Wilsbach, renewed his full support for this vector. He assured that the MQ-9 Reaper had perhaps been “the most valuable element” during Operation Epic Fury, despite this high loss rate, reports the opex360 site.

“No other platform comes close to the MQ-9 in terms of number of strikes,” he assured. If he did not give figures, of the 13,000 targets targeted by American forces, he assured that the MQ-9 had been the most frequently deployed aircraft.

“Lack of maneuverability and speed”

But the vector has its weak points. During a meeting at the 33rd Esra last June, Lieutenant-Colonel Benjamin confided to 20 Minutes that, despite all its qualities, the main weakness of the Reaper “lies in the lack of maneuverability and speed [sa vitesse de croisière est de 335 km/heure]”. If it remains a discreet device in terms of sound and visuals, it is on the other hand “not stealthy” nor “self-protected, and is therefore not intended to go into the middle of a war”, especially in contested environments, such as in Iran.

Which makes Mark Kahanding, CEO of the Cobalt Academy and specialist in drone warfare, say in an analysis posted on LinkedIn that “the MQ-9 losses represent a warning about the rapidity with which air defense strategy is changing.” “The device itself should not be considered obsolete,” the challenge “increasingly focuses on the highly contested environments in which these systems operate.”

This is why if the replacement for the MQ-9 – on which the American army is working – will have to integrate technologies allowing it to be more effective and more resistant on the battlefield, it will also be necessary to design “a less expensive and more easily consumable platform” explains the specialist site The War Zone. The US Air Force could thus deploy the successor to the Reaper en masse, and would be better able to absorb expected losses during a high-intensity conflict.