A Look At US-owned ₦15 Billion MQ-9 Reaper Spy/Strike Drone Downed By Russian Jets (Photos)

A look at the US-owned ₦15 billion MQ-9 Reaper spy/strike drone downed by two Russian Su-27 fighter jets.

US Air Force on Tuesday March 14th announced that its MQ-9 Reaper drone was taken out of the sky by ‘unsafe and unprofessional intercept’ by two Russian Su-27 fighter jets while flying over the Black Sea.

In a press release, it explained that two Russian Su-27 dumped fuel on the MQ-9 before one collided with its propeller, forcing the drone to plunged into the Black Sea near Russian-occupied Crimea and the Ukraine frontline.

Following the encounter, the U.S. Forces claimed it had to bring down the $32 million drone in international waters, sparking a race between Moscow and Washington to recover it.

In a statement, US Air Force Gen. James B. Hecker, the commander of US Air Forces Europe-Air Forces Africa, said :

“Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9.”

Let’s take a look at the United States’ MQ-9 Reaper drone downed by Russia :

1) The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is a multi-mission, medium-altitude, long-endurance” aircraft designed to attack time-sensitive targets with persistence and precision. It can also destroy or disable those targets.

2) The 4,900-pound drone, which became operational in 1 May 2007, has a range of 1,150 miles, ability to fly at altitudes of 50,000 feet and has a cruising speed of roughly 230 mph.

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3) The near-silent drone is operated remotely by a pilot, a sensor operator and a Mission Intelligence Coordinator. It can also conduct surveillance, assist in search and rescue missions.

4) Sometimes called Predator B, the MQ-9 has an endurance of 30 hours when conducting ISR missions. It decreases to 23 hours if it is carrying a full weapons load.

5) As of September 2015, the Air Force had 93 MQ-9 Reaper drones in its arsenal. As of March 2023, each of these drones costs $32 million, or ₦14.7 billion in Naira while 195+ as being built of 2016.

6) The US MQ-9 Reaper drone downed in the Black Sea on Tuesday is the same type of aircraft used to kill Iranian top security and intelligence commander, Gen. Qassem Soleimani in January 2020.

7) The laser-guided missile that was fired by the Reaper during the mission in Iraq is AGM-114 Hellfire Missile. As of 2021, each of these air-to-ground missile cost US$150,000 (‎₦69 million).

8) MQ-9 drone fitted with another version of the AGM-114 Hellfire Missile, known as the AGM-114R9X, was also used to kill Al Qaeda’s then-number two leader, Abu Khayr Al Masri, as he drove in Syria in 2017. AGM-114R9X uses blades instead of explosives to takes out its targets, killing its target with minimal collateral damage.

9) Morocco is the only African country that boasts the ₦15 Billion General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

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