The U.S. lost two drones over Syria Tuesday after a midair collision, a defense official tells Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Images of burning aircraft crashing to the ground were posted on Twitter Tuesday. There was speculation that the aircraft were MQ-9 Reapers \u2014 a remotely piloted aircraft used predominately as an armed hunter-killer drone, but also capable of surveillance and intelligence collection \u2014 and were shot down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the defense official could not confirm the type of drone involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reports indicate there was a collision, the defense official said, but whether they were shot at afterwards \u2014 and whether that caused the crash \u2014 is unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A shootdown of a Reaper is not without precedent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Houthi rebels in Yemen shot down a Reaper<\/a> in June of 2019, according to a CENTCOM statement<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CENTCOM said the MQ-9 Reaper was shot down by Houthi rebels with a SA-6 surface-to-air missile that was enabled with Iranian assistance, according that release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The slow-moving aircraft, with a cruising speed of 230 miles per hour<\/a>, according to the Air Force, costs about $64 million for a unit of four aircraft plus sensors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is mainly armed with munitions like AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, GBU-12 Paveway II and GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\t