The U.S. Department of Defense admitted on the 20th that a U.S. military MQ-9 "Reaper" drone was shot down by Yemen's Houthi forces.
*: Xinhua News Agency
This Feb. 20 screenshot shows the wreckage of a U.S. MQ-9 drone suspected to have been shot down by the Houthis falling onto a beach in the Red Sea city of Hodeidah, Yemen. Xinhua News Agency.
Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said at a press conference that the drone fell off the coast of the Houthi-controlled area on the 19th, and "preliminary indications show that it was shot down by a surface-to-air missile launched by the Houthis."
The Houthis announced on the 19th that they had shot down a US MQ-9 drone in the Red Sea city of Hodeidah, Yemen, on the same day. The next day, the Houthis released footage of the drone being shot down by militants using "homemade surface-to-air missiles."
This Feb. 20 screenshot shows the wreckage of a U.S. MQ-9 drone suspected to have been shot down by the Houthis falling onto a beach in the Red Sea city of Hodeidah, Yemen. Xinhua News Agency.
The drone crashed near a beach in Hodeidah, and the wreckage has been recovered by the Houthis.
The MQ-9 is an integrated reconnaissance and combat UAV, which can not only perform reconnaissance and surveillance missions, but also carry missiles to strike ground targets, with a cost of more than 50 million US dollars. In January 2020, the U.S. military used a Reaper drone to launch missiles in Iraq to assassinate Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force.
This Feb. 20 screenshot shows the wreckage of a U.S. MQ-9 drone suspected to have been shot down by the Houthis falling onto a beach in the Red Sea city of Hodeidah, Yemen. Xinhua News Agency.
Singh said at a press conference on the 20th that she did not know whether the "Reaper" drone shot down by the Houthis was carrying missiles at that time.
This is the second time since November last year that the Reaper drone has been shot down by the Houthis.