United States Air Force MQ-9 Reaper Crash

Two MQ-9 Reapers were lost to accidents rather than enemy action during the opening weeks of the campaign, disclosed in a Bloomberg tally published on 19 March 2026 that put cumulative Reaper losses at twelve. Neither the dates nor the locations of the two accidents were released. High sortie rates, long transits from Gulf basing and degraded satellite and datalink conditions over the theatre all contributed to non-combat attrition alongside the losses inflicted by Iranian air defences.