United States Air Force MQ-9 Reaper Shot down

An MQ-9 Reaper was shot down over Hormozgan province on 7 March 2026. The province fronts the Strait of Hormuz and contains Bandar Abbas, the main base of the Iranian Navy and the focus of the US maritime campaign, so it was covered near-continuously by armed reconnaissance orbits. Iranian air-defence units operating in the area accounted for a significant share of the Reaper losses recorded during the first fortnight of the war.