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Another MQ-9 Reaper UAV was shot down by the Houthis (Ansar Allah) in Yemen. According to the claims by Ansar Allah, this is the eleventh MQ-9 Reaper UAV destroyed by Yemeni air defenses in the country’s airspace starting from October 7, 2023, after the beginning of Yemeni operations in support of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip as well as in response to recent strikes on Yemen by the United States and the United Kingdom.
MQ-9 combat drones, which cost upwards of $30 million per a unit, are primarily used to collect intelligence, but have the ability to conduct pinpoint strikes. The advanced drones can operate for more than 27 hours and reach altitudes of over 25,000 feet.
With the beginning of the escalation in the region, expensive planes began to fall too often, causing great damage to the reputation and huge losses to the US military, which is unable to withstand Houthi attacks.
This is the fourth MQ-9 Reaper drone destroyed this month. The US military acknowledged that Ansar Allah shot down two combat drones on September 10 and September 16.
U.S. Air Force Major General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, tried to explain away that the claim by the Houthis that they had shot down eleven MQ-9s since the start of their campaign in November over the Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave on the Gaza Strip was “not accurate.” In response, Ansar Allah movement supports its claims with footage of the wreckage, ruining the prestige of the glorified American weapons.
