Iran has destroyed$1bn worth of MQ-9 Reaper Drones, orroughly 20 percent of the US's pre-war inventoryof the sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a report byBloombergon Friday.
The report said that many of the drones were downed by Iran in flight, but thatothers had been destroyed on the groundwhen Iran targeted US military bases in the Gulf.
The MQ-9 is both a surveillance drone and capable of carrying a payload, typically Hellfire missiles or Joint Direct Attack Munition guided bombs.
Bloomberg reported that the USmay have lost up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones in the war,a higher number than the 24that a reportreleasedthis month by the Congressional Research Service noted.
The $1bn price tag adds to the cost of the war on Iran, which a senior official at the Pentagon told Reuters in May reached up to $29bn.The MQ-9 Reaper drone is being gradually phased out by the US military, although General Atomics continues to produce it for foreign customers.
Iran’s ability to shoot down MQ-9 Reaper Drones is another demonstration of how it has managed to deploy some air defense, despite claims from US President Donald Trump that the country’s defences have been “obliterated”.
A US official toldThe New York Timesthis week that Iranian military commanders may havemapped out flight patterns of US fighter jets and bombers over their skies, raising the risks should Trump decide to restart the war on Iran.
Days before the US and Iran reached a fragile ceasefire in April, Iran shot down a F-15E Strike Eagle warplane, sparking a massive US recovery operation for the pilots. If Iran had been able to capture the US pilot alive, it would have put tremendous pressure on Washington, experts say.
The New York Times reported thatRussia may have helped Iran map US flight patternsin order to better position their military assets and air defense systems.
Iran and Russia have a long-standing security arrangement. Russia has assisted Iran by providing satellite imagery of US warships and military personnel, according tomultipleUS media reports.
Source: ZeroHedge News
