As the UK begins to open its airspace to medium altitude, long endurance (MALE) drones for the first time, at least 20 crashes of this type of drone have occurred during 2023. See latest update of our Drone Crash database for full details. It is highly likely that other crashes have occurred that have not been publicly reported.
In November 2023, the RAF began flying its new ‘Protector’ drone (a new version of the Reaper) from RAF Waddington as part of a short test programme after receiving permission from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The MoD has submitted plans to be allowed to fly drones from RAF Waddington on a permanent basis from Spring 2024. Meanwhile the US Air Force have submitted plans to the CAA to fly US Global Hawk drones from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire. It has put an application to fly US Reaper drones from the base on hold, presumably until a decision is made on the Global Hawk flights.
There are now a wide variety of drones used by the military – from small hand-held surveillance systems through exploding so-called ‘suicide drones, to enormous solar powered systems flying at the edge of space. However, MALE drones like the Predator, Reaper and Bayraktar remain the workhorse of military attack drones but due to a variety of reasons, they continue to regularly crash
US Crashes
At least four MQ-9 Reapers and one MQ-1 Gray Eagle have crashed during the year according to media reports. Details are scant as the US has grown increasingly secretive about such occurrences with USAF ‘mishap’ data not updated since 2021. Alongside these crashes, a US Reaper drone was downed due to a collision with Russia aircraft over the Black Sea in March, while a US Reaper was shot down off the coast of Yemen by Houthi rebels in November.
| Date | Operator | Type | Phase/details | Location / Report |
| Nov 18,2023 | US Air Force | MQ-9 Reaper (?) | Mid-flight | Off coast Somaliland |
| Aug 22, 2023 | US Air Force | MQ-9 Reaper | Landing | Kanoya, Japan |
| May 15,2023 | US CBP | MQ-9 Reaper | Mid-flight | Arizona, US |
| Apr 22, 2023 | US Army | MQ-1 Gray Eagle | Mid-flight | Kirkuk, Iraq |
| Feb, 4, 2023 | US Air Force | MQ-9 Reaper | Mid-flight | Northern Mali |
Bayraktar TB-2 Crashes
At least six Bayraktar TB-2 drones have crashed during 2023. Two of these occurred after Ukrainian operators lost control of the drones and had them shot down. Bayraktar’s operated by Burkina Faso and Mali also crashed during the year while Turkish Bayraktar’s operating against Kurdish groups also crashed in Iraq. Meanwhile the US Air Force shot down a Turkish Anka drone in Syria in October after US forces judged it to be threatening a US military position.
| Date | Operator | Type | Phase/details | Location / Report |
| Jul 17, 2023 | Turkish Air Force | Bayraktar TB2 (?) | Mid-flight | Sangasar, Iraqi |
| Jun 21, 2023 | Burkina Faso | Bayraktar TB2 | Mid-flight | Burkina Faso |
| Jun 14, 2023 | Turkey Air Force | Bayraktar TB2 | Mid-flight | Qandil, Iraq |
| May 22, 2023 | Mali Air Force | Bayraktar TB2 | Taxiing | Gao airport, Mali |
| May 4, 2023 | Ukraine Air Force | Bayraktar TB2 | Down after lost link | Kyiv, Ukraine |
| Feb 23, 2023 | Ukraine Air Force | Bayraktar TB2 | Down after lost link | Kharkiv, Ukraine |
Other MALE drones
Elsewhere, a number of different MALE drones operated by a variety of military and security organisations crashed during the year. A Heron drone operated by the European border agency Frontex crashed in to the sea off Crete in August after control was lost. A second Frontex drone made an emergency landing at Malta airport in October following engine problems mid-flight. A crash of Israeli Defence Force operated Heron in January – the third in four months – led to a grounding of the drone by the IDF. Three different MALE drone development models also crashed during the year; a Ten Yung being developed by Taiwan, a ‘Tapas’ (renamed Rustom II) being developed by the Indian military and an unknown type being developed by Iran.
| Date | Operator | Type | Phase/details | Location / Report |
| Oct 12, 2023 | Frontex | Heron 1 | Engine problems | Malta airport |
| Sep 18, 2023 | Iran | ? | Mid-flight | Gorgon, Iran |
| Aug 24, 2023 | Frontex | Heron 1 | Mid-flight – lost link | Off-coast Crete |
| Aug 20,2023 | India DRDO | Tapas (Rustom II) | Mid-flight | Karnataka, India |
| Mar 16, 2023 | Iran (?) | Mohajer-6 | Mid-flight | Zabul, Afghanistan |
| Feb 22, 2023 | Taiwan Air Force | Teng Yun 2 | Taxiing pre-take-off | Hualien, Taiwan |
| Feb 10, 2023 | Chile Air Force | Hermes 900 | Mid-flight | Temuco, Chile |
| Jan 21, 2023 | Israeli Defence Force | Heron 1 | Take-off phase | Israel |
| Jan 11,2023 | Russian Air Force | Forpost | Mid-flight | Belogorod, Russia |
