MQ-9s Over Iran: Striking and Finding Targets—But Taking Some Losses

MQ-9 Reapers are flying numerous orbits over Iran, gathering intelligence and taking out missile launchers in Operation Epic Fury. Yet Iran has managed to down about 10 of the armed drones, according to people familiar with the operations, who asked not to be identified.

Use of the Reapers has helped ensure manned U.S. fighters haven’t been shot down over hostile territory, and the losses demonstrate Iran has some ability to damage airborne threats. U.S. Central Command, which is leading the campaign, confirmed MQ-9s are operating as part of Operation Epic Fury, but declined comment on the shoot-downs or the specific role the Reapers are playing.

The Air Force referred questions to CENTCOM. CBS News reported March 9 that 11 MQ-9s had been lost during operations against Iran, citing two U.S. officials.

Weapons systems video released by CENTCOM—many apparently shot from the cameras aboard Reapers—show U.S. weapons destroying what Iranian mobile missile or drone launchers and aircraft. Some of the launchers were road-mobile and on the move when they were struck, the videos show. In other strikes, the videos show Reapers firing what appear to be Hellfire missiles at ground targets and parked aircraft. At other times, the videos suggest the MQ-9s may be targeting for other missions or providing surveillance.

U.S. forces have struck over 5,500 targets since the war commenced on Feb. 28, according to CENTCOM, “prioritizing locations that pose an imminent threat,” including Iranian missile and drone launchers.

Iran has retaliated by targeting U.S. bases, embassies, and civilian sites across the Middle East. As of March 10, seven American Soldiers had been killed by Iranian strikes—six in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, and one at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia. About 140 troops have been injured, according to chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, whose March 10 statement also said 108 have of the wounded had since returned to duty.

“The joint force remains focused on three military objectives: Continue to destroy Iranian ballistic missiles and drone capability in order to prevent attacks on the U.S. and others throughout the region,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said at a Pentagon press briefing on March 10. “And this means attacking launch sites, command and control nodes, [and] stockpiles before they can threaten our personnel, our facilities, and our partners.”

The rate of Iranian ballistic missile attacks have declined 90 percent since the start of the war, and its one-way drone attacks are down 83 percent, Caine said. But so far Iran has managed to retain its ability to fire missiles and drones and its weapons remain deadly threats.

“Every day, we’re striking hard at Iranian ballistic missiles and drones,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, the CENTCOM commander, in a video released March 11. “Forces executing Operation Epic Fury aren’t just defending against Iranian threats, we are methodically dismantling them by hitting Iranian missiles and drones as we also strike their defense industrial base.”

Cooper also said: “I’d characterize our strikes as being unpredictable, dynamic and decisive. Since the first 24 hours of this campaign, Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks have dropped drastically.”

The MQ-9s appear to be one reason for that rapid decline. The U.S. aircraft are far more sophisticated than the low-cost drones fielded by Iran, carrying a variety of sensors and munitions. On-board equipment includes electro-optical/infrared sensors, laser designators, maritime surveillance radar, electronic intelligence gathering systems, and General Atomics’ Lynx multimode radar, which the company says can capture high-resolution imagery even through smoke, dust, and bad weather.

The aircraft have ranged in cost from about $13 million to $16 million, according to an Air Force accident investigation report and General Atomics spokesman C. Mark Brinkley, who said the Air Force’s final contract for Reapers, struck in 2020, was about $16 million per aircraft. Brinkley declined to comment about the MQ-9’s use against Iran and referred questions regarding their operations to the U.S. military.

Reapers can range over 1,000 miles and remain on station for long periods, with flight times in excess of 27 hours. Weapons payloads can weigh up to 3,850 pounds, including combinations of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, GBU-12 Paveway II and GBU-49 Enhanced Paveway missiles, and GBU-38 and GBU-54 Joint Direct Attack Munitions. The MQ-9 can also be used to guide munitions expended by other aircraft, such as laser-guided JDAMs, which Air Force and Navy fighters appear to be dropping in Epic Fury. Some of the footage released by CENTCOM shows what appears to be aircraft, likely Reapers, lasing targets for munitions dropped from above by other aircraft.

The MQ-9s participating in Operation Epic Fury are likely playing a role in orchestrating attacks on key Iranian targets, observed retired Brig. Gen. Houston Cantwell, a former F-16 and MQ-9 pilot and former commander of the 732nd Operations Group at Creech Air Force Base, Nev., which flies Reapers in operations like this one.

“Although most folks associate the MQ-9 with one mission set—that is, counterterrorism and close air support—the MQ-9 has rapidly matured, proving itself in important dynamic targeting roles at exercises Red Flag and Valiant Shield,” said Cantwell, now a senior resident fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

While the Air Force has flown MQ-9s in combat for nearly two decades, including heavy use over Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, the Air Force has considered phasing them out in the near future, reasoning they are too slow and visible to sophisticated air defenses such as those used by China in the Pacific.

But Cantwell said the Reaper still has value and brings critical capabilities to the modern battlespace.

“It turns out that when you have a platform with the persistence and the precision strike that the MQ-9 brings, it can close the kill chain better than most other platforms out there,” Cantwell said. “The MQ-9 can bring multiple intelligence feeds, not to mention its own intelligence-collection capabilities, both with full-motion video, electronic intelligence, and different kinds of pods it can now carry. It can gather real-time intelligence at the very forward edge of the battle space and find the dynamic targets, which, as we’ve seen, is CENTCOM’s number one priority.”

It does so at lower risk because the people flying it are operating remotely.

“It can put all the pieces together and find the targets,” Cantwell said. More important, its operators can also call the plays. “Sometimes it’s going to be the quarterback. If there’s time, and if a threat allows, it can call in other shooters to save its own munitions,” he continued. “Or maybe no other aircraft are available, so it can shoot its own Hellfire missile and take care of the threat immediately.”

Epic Fury is showing off the Reapers’ value as something other than a pure hunter-killer drone. “I think it’s a fantastic use of this capability,” Cantwell said. “And it’s proving the MQ-9 has a life beyond counterterrorism.”

Even when Reapers are downed, experts say, they are proving valuable because their use frees crewed aircraft from loitering over targets. Iran’s air defenses include electro-optical/infrared surface-to-air missile systems, which have proven challenging to U.S. defenses because their passive sensors don’t provide the kind of advance warning that radar-activated missile systems do. Those systems were active in Yemen in 2025 during Operation Rough Rider, and were particularly effective against Reapers, according to current and former officials.

Houthi rebels in Yemen shot down at least half a dozen MQ-9s last year, and over a dozen Reapers were lost to the Houthis since late 2023. Combined with losses in Iran, that means the Air Force may have lost as much as 10 percent of its Reaper fleet.

The advantage of unmanned systems is underscored by the perils of a modern air war. Just last year, two F-16 pilots earned Silver Star medals for skillfully evading Houthi SAMs over Yemen.

“Would you rather have a manned platform flying in this vulnerable state?” Cantwell asks. “Or would you rather have an unmanned platform that’s able to tie all these pieces together, find the dynamic targets, and call in the strikes? I’d much rather have the unmanned.”

When crewed aircraft go down in combat zones, rescue operators rush in to try to get the crew out—a dangerous job that puts more people at risk. In the worst circumstance, pilots can be captured. The 1993 Somalia incident where U.S. Army aviators were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, remains branded in many people’s memories. Douglas Birkey, Executive Director of the Mitchell Institute sees the Reapers as protecting Americans. “This is preventing another Black Hawk Down,” he said.