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RobotRisk / General Atomics / U.S. Air Force / 2024-12-16
other · crash

$13 Million Military Reaper Drone Lost After Propeller Fell Off

S4 · 12/16
2024 · General Atomics / U.S. Air Force · Mediterranean Sea

Record

CompanyGeneral Atomics / U.S. Air Force
Categoryother
Typecrash
Date12/16
2024
Time of daynot documented
LocationMediterranean Sea
SeverityS4 (serious injury, total loss, or grounding)
Scale$13M aircraft, total loss
Confidencehigh
VerificationYes - adversarially checked against the cited source
SourceBusiness Insider / Air Force Times

What happened

A U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone (432nd Wing/20th Attack Squadron) crashed into the Mediterranean Sea after a splined coupling assembly failure caused the propeller to decouple from the engine in flight, resulting in total loss of the ~$13 million aircraft; wreckage not recovered.

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14282017 S1: 12017 S5: 12172019 S3: 11192021 S3: 11212022 S5: 11222023 S3: 12023 S4: 23232024 S1: 22024 S2: 42024 S3: 32024 S4: 72024 S5: 521242025 S1: 12025 S2: 72025 S3: 62025 S4: 82025 S5: 628252026 S1: 12026 S2: 92026 S3: 32026 S4: 22026 S5: 31826
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