Iran recently shot down at least two MQ-1 American military drones, US officials say - report
The report follows claims by regime state broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) on Tuesday that Iran shot down an MQ-1 drone over the Strait of Hormuz.
In recent days, Iranian forces reportedly downed at least two General Atomics MQ-1 US military drones, according to two unnamed US officials speaking to CBS News. The locations where the drones were brought down and the specific variants of MQ-1 involved remain unclear, a detail that is significant as the older Predator variant is valued at approximately $4 million, whereas the newer Gray Eagle variant is priced at tens of millions of dollars each.
The Congressional Budget Office report cited by CBS indicates that the US military has sustained around $720 million in losses since the inception of Operation Epic Fury, which includes the destruction of at least 24 MQ-9 Reaper drones, in addition to a further $150 million loss from the downing of an MQ-4C Triton. CBS attempted to reach CENTCOM for comment, but received no response.
This development follows similar claims by the state broadcaster, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), which stated on Tuesday that Iran had shot down an MQ-1 drone over the Strait of Hormuz. On the same day, Al Jazeera reported that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had also downed a drone of a similar type over the international waterway.
Written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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