Iran has downed roughly 30 U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones since the start of the war, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
The Reaper, which entered Air Force service in 2007, has been a centerpiece of U.S. counterterrorism operations across the Middle East and other conflict zones, reflecting the military’s growing reliance on unmanned aircraft during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Reaper was designed to operate in environments where the U.S. had established air dominance. That advantage has been repeatedly challenged by Tehran.
The Air Force announced its final five-year purchasing contract forReapers in 2020, and manufacturer General Atomics closed the production line last year after building 575 of them. The final lot cost about $16 million each when purchased in a batch of four, according to C. Mark Brinkley, a General Atomics spokesman.