US MQ-9 reaper drone worth Tk 3,700 Cr destroyed: IRGC claims

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed that it shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian news agencies Fars and Mehr, citing an IRGC statement, reported that Iran’s air-defense system detected and brought down a US long-range MQ-9 drone over the Strait of Hormuz. The drone later crashed into the Persian Gulf.

According to recent accounts by US defense officials and international media outlet The Washington Post, the United States has lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones during recent conflicts and military operations in the Middle East. Before the war began, the US military reportedly had approximately 185 Reaper drones-165 operated by the Air Force and 20 by the Marine Corps. Thus, losing 45 drones would represent roughly 25 percent of its total fleet.

Each MQ-9 Reaper drone costs approximately $30 million, equivalent to around Tk 370 crore in Bangladeshi currency. Based on that figure, the total loss would amount to more than $1.3 billion, or $130 crore.

On Sunday (August 30), the United States launched an attack on Larak Island in southern Iran for the first time in a month. In response, Iran fired ballistic missiles at two US bases located in Jordan. Several people were reportedly killed or injured in the US strikes on Iran.

In a statement released by Iranian news agencies on Sunday (August 30), the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the joint operation, involving missiles and drones, had been named “Punishment of the Aggressor.” The operation targeted Jordan’s King Hussein and Al Azraq bases.

-MT