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RobotRisk / General Atomics Aeronautical Systems / 2026-08-13
defense space · mission-loss

US lost roughly 25% of MQ-9 Reaper drone fleet during Iran war

S4 · 08/13
2026 · General Atomics Aeronautical Systems

Record

CompanyGeneral Atomics Aeronautical Systems
Categorydefense space
Typemission-loss
Date08/13
2026
Time of daynot documented
Locationno physical site (recall / fleet-wide / aggregate record)
SeverityS4 (serious injury, total loss, or grounding)
Scale25% of US Reaper fleet (~45 aircraft) lost
Confidencemedium
VerificationYes - adversarially checked against the cited source
SourceThe Washington Post / Jerusalem Post

What happened

Washington Post, Jerusalem Post, and Responsible Statecraft reported the US lost approximately 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones (~25% of stockpile, ~$1.3B) during the Iran conflict, with some losses attributed to Iran's IRGC shooting them down.

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