US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers

Ars Technica News
drones military defense iran reaper hunter-killer budget

Summary

The US military is seeking cheaper hunter-killer drone alternatives after losing nearly 30 MQ-9A Reaper drones worth $1 billion to Iranian air defenses. The Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit has issued a notice for drones with comparable capabilities at lower cost, aiming for 20 mission-ready aircraft by 2031.

<p>The US military has lost dozens of Reaper drones collectively worth more than $1 billion while carrying out surveillance and attack missions over Iran. Now the Pentagon is seeking large numbers of cheaper drones that can perform such missions despite the expectation that many will be lost in combat.</p> <p>In a call for industry pitches, the <a href="https://www.diu.mil/work-with-us/submit-solution/PROJ00626">Defense Innovation Unit’s notice</a> described the US military’s current reliance on drones and crewed aircraft, each costing more than $30 million, as being “unsustainable against adversaries utilizing layered defenses enabled by increasingly low-cost antiaircraft capabilities.” It envisions deploying more “cost-effective” drones to “overwhelm enemy air defenses even while experiencing numerous [drone] losses.”</p> <p>That is, in practice, what <a href="https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/06/ukraines-one-time-test-used-fully-autonomous-drones-to-kill-russian-soldiers/">Ukraine’s military</a> has been demonstrating with its <a href="https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/ukraines-strike-campaigns-will-likely-continue-to-hurt-russias-economy-and-military-operations-in-ukraine/">long- and mid-range strike campaign</a> against Russian supply lines, oil refineries, and various energy or industrial targets within Russia or occupied Ukraine. The Ukrainian campaign has been overwhelming Russia’s overstretched air defense capabilities by launching hundreds of relatively inexpensive drones and missiles on a daily basis to attack targets far behind the frontlines, while continuing to <a href="https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/ukraines-intermediate-range-strike-campaign-and-new-mechanized-attacks-herald-the-start-of-a-new-phase-of-the-war/">damage or destroy </a>Russia’s most sophisticated air defense systems.</p><p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/07/us-seeks-cheaper-hunter-killer-drones-after-iran-destroys-1b-worth-of-reapers/">Read full article</a></p> <p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/07/us-seeks-cheaper-hunter-killer-drones-after-iran-destroys-1b-worth-of-reapers/#comments">Comments</a></p>
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# US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of Reapers Source: [https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/07/us-seeks-cheaper-hunter-killer-drones-after-iran-destroys-1b-worth-of-reapers/](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/07/us-seeks-cheaper-hunter-killer-drones-after-iran-destroys-1b-worth-of-reapers/) ## Unleashing the drones of war comes at a cost A heavy reliance on Reapers avoids putting more US pilots at risk, but it has also led to Iranian air defenses shooting down dozens of the hunter\-killer drones\. The US military had lost nearly 30 Reaper drones as of May 2026, including some destroyed on the ground by Iranian counterstrikes, according to[Air & Space Forces Magazine](https://www.airandspaceforces.com/mq-9-reaper-mvp-iran-war-despite-losses-wilsbach/)\. The Air Force acknowledged such combat losses as[reducing its Reaper fleet](https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2026/05/13/air-force-mq-9-fleet-drops-to-135-aircraft-after-iran-combat-losses/)to about 135 drones\. The total US taxpayer bill for the destroyed Reapers comes to about $1 billion, according to[Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-21/iran-has-destroyed-roughly-1-billion-worth-of-us-reaper-drones)\. A typical Reaper may cost $30 million per aircraft, but the Air Force has said a Reaper equipped with a full sensor package can cost up to $50 million\. That number of Reapers lost in combat has almost certainly increased since May, as the United States and Iran have continued to trade airstrikes and drones despite[so\-called ceasefire periods and attempted negotiations](https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-timeline-trump-hormuz-war-ceasefire-04da58cbae991183f8b52ef5bf615963)\. On July 8, as hostilities ramped up again recently with new Iranian strikes on commercial shipping triggering more US military airstrikes, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps[claimed to have shot down](https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/middle-east/iran-eastern-states/artc-iran-says-they-conducted-85-strikes-on-us-military-targets-in-bahrain-and-kuwait)yet another Reaper drone\. The defense company General Atomics stopped manufacturing Reaper drones for the US military in 2025\. But a General Atomics executive told[Breaking Defense](https://breakingdefense.com/2026/07/diu-seeks-cheaper-drones-to-carry-out-reaper-missions/)that the company is interested in pursuing the newest drone contract offering from the US military, and seemed to suggest it would provide a cheaper successor to the Reaper\. The Defense Innovation Unit notice called for drones capable of carrying many different sensor and weapons payloads up to 2,800 pounds and flying with a combat radius of at least 2,300 nautical miles—or 8,000 nautical miles on a one\-way strike mission—while executing the same missions that the MQ\-9A Reaper drone currently performs for the US military\. It envisions delivery of “20 mission\-ready aircraft” by 2031\. Whether the US military and companies can deliver on that vision of deploying cheaper yet capable strike drones remains to be seen\. The Pentagon is asking for about $54 billion in its fiscal year 2027 budget to spend on drones and autonomous warfare technologies—an amount that[rivals wartime Ukraine’s entire military budget](https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/04/pentagon-wants-54b-for-drones-more-than-most-nations-military-budgets/)\.

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