The US lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones in its war with Iran, or roughly 25% of its entire fleet, The Washington Post reported on Thursday, one of the many examples of the conflict creating a staggering depletion of US military stockpiles. MQ-9s are used to conduct surveillance and launch airstrikes and were deployed […]
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so far…
crazy to think theyve caused so much terror around the world and there are only about 180 of them
The US has had drones since the 90’s. Before the reapers there were the predator drones, and tall the specialist drones since then as well. Several branches also have their own allotments and fleets. The reapers got a life extension upgrade last year but the US has been looking at next gen drones for a decade at this point, so I wouldn’t be surprised if “use as many of them as you can” was an operational order to clear space for the next gen. Pure speculation, but it fits the whole MIC modus operandi. There are several companies in the US developing all sorts of autonomous platforms for the gov.
