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The US military has lost up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones since the start of the conflict with Iran, which accounts for nearly a fifth of Washington\u2019s entire pre-war fleet and is valued at close to $1 billion, Bloomberg has reported. The bulk of them were destroyed or seriously damaged by Iranian fire, according to the outlet.<\/p>\n
The MQ-9 Reaper is capable of conducting both reconnaissance and strike missions. A single drone is estimated to cost more than $30 million. General Atomics halted production of the model last year, although variants are still being manufactured for foreign customers.<\/p>\n
In an article on Thursday, Bloomberg, citing an anonymous source, reported that\u00a0\u201cIran has destroyed more than two dozen MQ-9 Reaper drones operated by US forces since the war began\u201d<\/em>\u00a0in late February.<\/p>\n While many of the drones were downed by Iranian air defenses, others were lost on the ground as a result of missile strikes, as well as in accidents, according to Bloomberg.<\/p>\n The US fleet of Reapers has now fallen to roughly 135 aircraft, considerably below the Air Force\u2019s long-standing minimum floor of 189, according to Lt. Gen. David Tabor, the Pentagon deputy chief of staff for plans and programs.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, the Congressional Research Service \u2013 the nonpartisan research arm of the Library of Congress that works with open-source materials \u2013 issued a report named \u2018U.S. Aircraft Combat Losses in Operation Epic Fury.\u2019 The document, citing an unspecified\u00a0\u201cnews article,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0similarly estimates that the US military had lost 24 MQ-9 Reapers, plus one MQ-4C.<\/p>\n The tally features 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 planes, as well as a helicopter.<\/p>\n Appearing before the House Appropriations defense subcommittee last Tuesday, Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst said that the cost of the military operation against Iran had swollen from the previously projected $25 billion to $29 billion due to\u00a0\u201cupdated repair and replacement of equipment costs,\u201d<\/em> among other factors.<\/p>\n