The Pentagon has confirmed the loss of another MQ-9 Reaper drone near Yemen, following claims by Iran-backed Houthi rebels that they had downed multiple such aircraft in recent days.
“Yesterday, an MQ-9 did crash in the vicinity of Yemen. That is being investigated, but I don’t have any additional details to share,” Defense Department spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters at a Sept. 17 press briefing.
When asked about the Houthis’ claim that they had shot down 10 MQ-9s since last November, Ryder dismissed the number as “too high.”
Citing “operation security reasons,” Ryder declined to provide the exact number of drones, each costing around $30 million, lost in Yemen. But he emphasized that the Houthis’ figures were “not accurate.”
Since the Houthis seized Yemen’s northern territory and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has seen Reapers shot down in the war-torn country in 2017, 2019, 2023, and this year.
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Pentagon Confirms MQ-9 Drone Loss Near Yemen
- by: Bill Pan
- 2024-09-18
- Source:
The Epoch Times
- 09/18/2024
