{"id":9063,"date":"2026-08-14T04:11:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T04:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9063"},"modified":"2026-08-14T04:11:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T04:11:52","slug":"u-s-military-has-lost-roughly-25-of-its-reaper-drones-as-iran-war-depletes-arsenal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9063","title":{"rendered":"U.S. military has lost roughly 25% of its Reaper drones as Iran war depletes arsenal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone, in December. (Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The U.S. military has lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones during the war with Iran, or roughly 25 percent of its fleet, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the matter.<\/p>

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The Reaper <\/b>is <\/b>used to conduct surveillance and targeted strikes, and it can cost between $30 million and $50 million depending on the type of sensors and weapons it carries, according to the Air Force. The potential taxpayer cost of recent losses is over $1.3 billion for that weapon system alone. <\/b><\/p>\n

The aircraft have seen heavy use around the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping route that has become a major flash point in the conflict<\/a> \u2014 and a key obstacle to negotiating a lasting peace deal. But the drones fly slowly and often at low altitudes, making them relatively easy targets for Iran\u2019s military and its regional proxies in Yemen and Iraq.<\/p>\n

A fourth U.S. official, who like the others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Pentagon data, said that not all of the lost Reapers were shot down. An unspecified number crashed after their operators\u2019 communications link to the drones failed, the official said.<\/p>\n

The Reaper joins a growing list of U.S. weapons and munitions that have been drained by the Iran war and years of American military support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.<\/p>\n

In the Iran campaign\u2019s first month, U.S. forces fired more than 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles and more than 1,000 Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles, significantly cutting into stockpiles of a key long-range strike capability and the military\u2019s most in-demand air-defense systems, The Post reported previously<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Such shortages have constrained President Donald Trump\u2019s military options as tensions with Tehran remain high and forced U.S. commanders in the region to change defensive tactics and hold missiles in reserve if they determine that an incoming Iranian missile is unlikely to harm anyone.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon, which declined to comment for this article, has consistently denied reports that its weapons <\/b>stockpiles are running low. At the same time, the Trump administration has asked Congress for tens of billions of dollars<\/a> in funding to offset costs incurred by the Iran war and to replenish supplies.<\/p>\n

As The Post reported last week, Trump confronted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a> about the state of the U.S. stockpile. The encounter occurred July 31, on the sidelines of a Cabinet meeting at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.<\/p>\n

The shortages have appeared to embolden Iran, which has intensified its demands for control of the Strait of Hormuz and reparations for damage the country has sustained since Trump ordered the start of hostilities on Feb. 28.<\/p>

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There were approximately 185 Reapers in the U.S. military fleet \u2014 165 in the Air Force and 20 in the Marine Corps <\/b>\u2014 <\/b>before the conflict began, according to public budget data and the services. <\/b>That figure does not include Reapers operated by U.S. intelligence agencies. <\/b>To date, none of the Marines\u2019 Reapers have been lost, a spokesman, Lt. Col. Joshua Benson, said in a statement. Those operate primarily in the Asia-Pacific.<\/p>\n

In May, Lt. Gen. David Tabor, a senior Air Force officer at the Pentagon, told the Senate<\/a> that the number of remaining drones <\/b>had fallen to about 135. At the time, Tabor told lawmakers he was \u201cconcerned\u201d about the losses <\/b>and that the Air Force was exploring how to quickly replenish its fleet.<\/p>\n

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a White House event with President Donald Trump on Aug. 3. (Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Hegseth told the Senate in July that the Pentagon would have to curtail military trainings without a quick infusion of additional funding as the Iran war strains the defense budget. He estimated that the conflict would cost $37.5 billion<\/a> through the end of September, though that total does not include the cost of rebuilding U.S. bases in the Middle East damaged by Iranian strikes.<\/p>\n

Republicans in Congress are divided on the best strategy to secure the war-related funding and have left Washington for their August recess.<\/p>\n

This week, the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute think tank released report a examining the military\u2019s effort to increase production of critical munitions. It found that in some cases the Pentagon\u2019s plans have \u201ckey dependencies,\u201d including a significant expansion of the defense industry\u2019s factory output.<\/p>\n

For example, it could take years <\/b>to replenish THAAD interceptors used throughout the war, the report found. The missile defends against incoming ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n

The U.S. <\/b>Missile Defense Agency\u2019s maximum production rate is 96 a year \u2014 but the Pentagon seeks 857 of them in next year\u2019s defense budget, and almost 2,600 total over the next five years. At current production rates, it would require \u201capproximately 27 years\u201d to the fulfill the request, AEI found.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if you ordered them today, delivery wouldn\u2019t be until President Trump leaves office,\u201d Harrison said.<\/p>\n

Other U.S. munitions reviewed by AEI had similar timelines, the report showed.<\/p>\n

Although Hegseth has met with many of the companies responsible for building key munitions, and secured what the Pentagon calls framework agreements to increase production, there are no contracts or funding yet for those firms to move forward.<\/p>

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The aircraft, which cost up to $50 million each, have seen heavy use around the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 but they are relatively easy targets for Iran and its proxies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nU.S. military has lost roughly 25% of its Reaper drones as Iran war depletes arsenal - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=9063\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"U.S. military has lost roughly 25% of its Reaper drones as Iran war depletes arsenal - 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