12 aircraft in a year.. Why are a large number of American MQ-9 drones shot down over Yemen?

The United States has lost more than 12 MQ-9 Reaper drones over Yemen, using conventional techniques used by the Houthis over about a year, according to a British website that asked, why are a large number of American MQ-9 drones being shot down?

According to a report by the British website Simple Flying , which specializes in aviation affairs, "The US Air Force has long used MQ-9 Reaper drones to carry out intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and strike missions in many low-intensity conflict zones around the world."

“While the fact that Yemen’s low-tech Houthi rebels are constantly firing on Reapers proves them vulnerable, that doesn’t mean they are obsolete,” he added, as India moves to buy 31 MQ-9B drones for patrol missions.

12 MQ-9 Reaper drones lost

On November 10, 2024, Houthi rebels in Yemen announced that they had shot down another MQ-9 Reaper drone. The US military acknowledged videos circulating online showing the aircraft falling from the sky in a ball of fire, and said it was investigating the incident without elaborating.

Whether or not this incident turns out to have been a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone does not diminish the vulnerability of these drones (or perhaps they always have been). In September 2024, the Associated Press reported that the Houthis had shot down two U.S. MQ-9 Reapers in less than a week. The agency reported that the U.S. military had acknowledged shooting down the first on Sept. 10 and the second on Sept. 16.

The Houthis are known to have shot down MQ-9 Reaper drones in 2017, 2019, 2023, and 2024. On October 2, U.S. Central Command announced that the Houthis had shot down an MQ-9 drone over the capital, Sanaa.

It is impossible to know how many drones the Houthis have shot down, as the US military has refused to provide a total figure for the number of drones it has lost over the region, according to the British website.

However, the U.S. military appears to have acknowledged that at least 10 MQ-9s have been lost in the past year. In September, the Associated Press quoted Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, as saying that authorities were continuing to investigate Monday’s downing, but he declined to elaborate.

He added: "The Houthis' claim that they have shot down ten Reaper drones since the start of their campaign in November against the war between Israel and Hamas is 'inaccurate.'"

It is also important to remember that the Houthis’ claims are largely unreliable. After all, they claimed to have sunk the USS Eisenhower, along with a host of other naval vessels, multiple times. In the end, the carrier completed its mission and returned to Virginia, apparently unscathed.

Not all MQ-9s lost while on missions over hot spots are due to hostile action. For example, in August 2020, two US MQ-9 Reapers were lost in a mid-air collision over Syria.

Mocking the War on Terror

The MQ-9 Reaper drones are used for intelligence and surveillance and can carry out “surgical” strikes. Using drones offers the benefits of not putting a U.S. pilot at risk and the political consequences of losing a fighter jet.

"If a stealth drone succeeds as intended, no one will know it was there," the British website reported.

The United States is known to have stealthy multi-mission drones for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, such as the RQ-170 Sentinel (also known as the "Wraith") and the RQ-180.