DM Monitoring
According to Bloomberg, Iran has taken out more than two dozen US MQ-9 Reaper drones since the start of the war, inflicting losses estimated at nearly $1 billion.
Many of the drones were shot down mid-flight by Iranian air defences, while others were destroyed on the ground during Iranian missile strikes on US bases or lost in operational accidents, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
Each Reaper costs around $30 million, and the drone is no longer in production for US forces, making the losses particularly difficult to replace and representing about 20% of the Pentagon’s pre-war inventory.
This marks one of the most significant material setbacks for the US in the conflict so far.
