The U.S. Armed Forces have confirmed the downing of an MQ-1 drone in combat during engagements with Iranian forces on May 30-31, with the statement widely interpreted by analysts as an indication that the MQ-1 Predator drone has been brought back into service in a limited capacity.
U.S. forces attacked “Iranian radar and command and control sites for drones in Goruk, Iran, and Qeshm Island this weekend,” according to a brief press release by the U.S. Central Command, with the strikes resulting in the aircraft’s destruction by local air defences. The restoring of retired air aircraft into frontline service is far from unprecedented, with an example being the F-117 stealth fighter, which after its retirement in 2008 saw increased use in the 2010s for training and testing.
Bringing the MQ-1 back into service would follow growing concerns regarding the toll hostilities with both Iran and the Yemeni Ansurullah Coalition are taking on the fleets of more modern drone types, most notably the MQ-9 Reaper.
Ansurullah Coalition forces in mid-May released footage confirming their 27th shootdown of an MQ-9, which was the 51st shot down in broader regional hostilities by air defences in Yemen and Iran collectively.
MQ-9 Reaper Drone Following Iranian Shootdown in March
During 39 days of U.S.-Iranian hostilities that began on February 28, 39 U.S. Armed Forces aircraft were destroyed and a further 10 sustained varying levels of damage, with MQ-9s accounting for the bulk of these losses. With the aircraft relied on for operations across the globe, including in the Pacific, and having bene produced in limited numbers with an estimated value of close to $150 million each, these losses have been wholly unsustainable.
The MQ-1 was initially designed primarily for surveillance, and later integrated AGM-114 Hellfire missiles for a secondary combat capability, making it the first drone capable of both finding and striking targets. This allowed the aircraft to pioneer a new kind of unmanned operations, which the MQ-9 was then more heavily optimised for.
Efforts to integrate short range air-to-air missiles onto the MQ-1 underwhelming results, as demonstrated during combat testing against Iraqi forces in the early 2000s, and no similar efforts were made to do so on the MQ-9. The MQ-9 was developed as a larger and more capable successor to the MQ-1 that benefitted from many similar design features, with the aircraft having a superior combat capability to its predecessor as it was.
The Reaper functions more like a light attack aircraft capable of close air support, interdiction missions, and precision strikes over a wide area, with its superiority leading the Air Force to phase the MQ-1 out of service in 2018.
Extreme losses in the MQ-9 fleet are likely to have been a primary factor in the decision to deploy the now much more expendable MQ-1 drones for surveillance operations, and possibly for limited strike operations, with the extreme measure of reviving the fleet providing one indication of the extent of the toll the war effort has taken on U.S. forces.
Top Photo: An MQ-1 Predator, armed with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, piloted by Lt. Col. Scott Miller on a combat mission over southern Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force Photo / Lt. Col. Leslie Pratt)
Source: Force Index