According to confirmation from the US Air Force on July 5, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) MQ-9 Reaper suddenly crashed while on a mission against IS in Syria.
`Evil bird` has broken wings
The US Air Force confirmed that the incident occurred on July 5 in Northern Syria when the MQ-9 Reaper was on a mission to destroy IS terrorists.
The US Air Force representative also added that immediately after the MQ-9 Reaper crashed, coalition aircraft carried out air strikes to destroy this UAV to prevent it from falling into the hands of IS rebels.
It is known that this is the third time a UAV type considered an evil bird in the US sky has crashed since 2015. The most recent time was in February 2016 when an MQ-9 Reaper suddenly crashed in Vietnam.
Reuters quoted the statement of Captain Bryan Bouchard of the 455th Expeditionary Squadron of the US Air Force as saying that the MQ-9 Reaper crashed in southern Afghanistan on the evening of February 20 and there were no casualties on the ground.
It is known that the US military campaign in Afghanistan ended in 2014, however the US still carries out many air strikes using UAVs and some other aircraft in Afghanistan, targeting Al-Qaeda, IS and the Taliban.
In addition, in early 2015, a UAV of this type also unexpectedly crashed near the US Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait.
UAV MQ-9 Reaper operates in Afghanistan.
Syrian statement
Before the MQ-9 Reaper crashed in Syria on July 5, in early 2015, the Syrian air defense force surprised everyone by shooting down a US reconnaissance UAV in the sky over Latakia province – an important province in
Although the source did not say which type of UAV was shot down by Syria, soon after, the US publicly announced that it had lost contact with an unarmed MQ-1 Predator aircraft.
So it’s almost certain that the UAV that was shot down was a Predator.
When answering the question of whether the US informed the Syrian side about the spying plan, White House officials revealed that Washington had no intention of informing the Syrian government about the spying flights.
However, immediately after the statement of the head of the White House, a senior representative of the Syrian government army affirmed that the country’s air defense force will shoot down any UAV that enters the country’s airspace without receiving recognition.
Previously, US satellites collected intelligence on IS targets in Syria.
According to information published by the US, in addition to its reconnaissance capabilities, the MQ-1 Predator can be equipped with many different types of missiles to attack ground and air targets.
MQ-1 Predator has a length of 8.22 m, a wingspan of 14.8 – 16.8 m, and a height of 2.1 m.
MQ-1 Predator can carry 2 AGM-114 Hellfire surface-to-air missiles (range 8 km), or 4 AIM-92 Stinger surface-to-air missiles (range 4.5 km), or 6 AGM surface-to-air missiles
With its technical characteristics, the MQ-1 Predator will become a great threat to its intended targets.
Clip of UAV MQ-9 Reaper operating in Afghanistan:
According to Tuan Vu
Vietnamese land
