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| US has lost 7 multi-million-dollar drones in Yemen area since March — official |
| 2025-04-29 |
Things happen to stuff during combat, or even when practicing for combat. [IsraelTimes] The United States has lost seven multi-million-dollar MQ-9 Reaper drones in the Yemen area since March 15, a US official says.Washington launched the latest round of its air campaign against Yemen’s Houthis in mid-March, and MQ-9s can be used for both reconnaissance — a key aspect of US efforts to identify and target weaponry the rebels are using to attack shipping in the region — as well as strikes. “There have been seven MQ-9s that have gone down since March 15,” the US official says on condition of anonymity, without specifying what has caused the loss of the drones, which cost around $30 million apiece. The US Navy has meanwhile announced the loss of another piece of expensive military equipment: an F/A-18E warplane that fell off the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in an accident that injured one sailor. A tractor that was towing the F/A-18E — a type of aircraft that cost more than $67 million in 2021 — also slipped off the ship into the sea. “The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard,” the Navy says in a statement. The carrier and its other planes remain in action and the incident is under investigation, the Navy adds. No details of recovery work are released. It is the second F/A-18 operating off the Truman to be lost in less than six months, after another was mistakenly shot down by the USS Gettysburg guided missile cruiser late last year in an incident that both pilots survived. The Truman is one of two US aircraft carriers operating in the Middle East, where US forces have been striking the Houthis on a near-daily basis since March 15. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #2 Think how many NGO's we could have funded with the money spent on those drones. |
| Posted by: Matt 2025-04-29 12:19 |
| #1 DEI? |
| Posted by: Grom the Affective 2025-04-29 04:06 |