Washington — Iranian forces in recent days have brought down at least two American MQ-1 unmanned aircraft, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. U.S. Central Command declined to comment on the matter on Thursday.
The specific location where the remotely piloted aircraft were brought down has not been reported. It is also unclear which MQ-1 variant was involved. The U.S. military has fielded two principal variants: the Predator, which the Air Force retired in 2018, and the Gray Eagle, a larger derivative currently operated by the Army, including its special operations units.
These aircraft are designed for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions, though both models are capable of carrying Hellfire missiles. In areas such as the Strait of Hormuz, the military uses these drones to provide persistent surveillance, track Iranian military activity, and monitor threats to commercial shipping and American forces.
For the military units involved, such as Army special operations forces, the loss of these platforms impacts the ability to conduct real-time monitoring of regional military movements. The CBO report, which translates recent drone losses into nearly $900 million in total destroyed hardware, highlights the sustained fiscal impact. The scale of these losses indicates a shift in the operational risks faced by unmanned platforms that were previously fixtures of U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While the MQ-1 variants are less expensive than the newer MQ-9 or MQ-4C models, their removal from the field requires the military to reallocate other surveillance assets to maintain coverage. No specific dates for further reports or congressional hearings on these recent MQ-1 losses were provided.