The spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Sare'e, announced that Yemeni military media will distribute footage of the air defense's operation to shoot down the American MQ-9 drone. What about this drone? The "MQ-9" or "MQ-9 Reaper" (MQ-9 Reaper) is an unmanned aerial vehicle previously called the Predator B, produced by the American company General Atomics. It is designed based on the "MQ-1 Predator" but is much larger for use as a missile launcher in combat. It is used by the United States Armed Forces and the United Kingdom's Air Force to strike targets in Afghanistan.
**Development History**
General Atomics developed its unmanned drone model MQ-1 Predator in 2000 to be larger and more capable of carrying munitions for use in the Afghanistan war. Its first flight occurred on February 2, 2001, powered by a turbo engine with a capacity of 900 horsepower (670 kilowatts). The United States launched the first squadron of this Reaper drone (Attack Squadron 42) at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada in 2006. The U.S. Air Force owned 28 of these drones by 2011, with plans to increase their number to about 90 in the upcoming years. Additionally, the U.S. Air Force operates around 200 Predator drones.
The aircraft weighs about 5 tons and can carry guided missiles and bombs weighing up to 1.7 tons, operating within a range of 3,000 kilometers. The MQ-9 Reaper drone can fly at altitudes of around 50,000 feet (15.24 km) for over 27 hours, with a unit price of approximately 11.5 million US dollars.
**Operational History**
It is believed that it was used in the attack on Baghdad International Airport in 2020, known as the "Blue Lightning" operation, where the commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard was assassinated, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the former deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Forces, was killed.
