UK Reaper drone ZZ209, damaged in a December 2021 accident, seen here being delivered to the RAF in Afghanistan in 2014
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has finally admitted, following an FoI appeal, that an RAF Reaper drone which crash landed at an undisclosed location in December 2021 has actually been written off. This was the sixth crash of a UK Reaper drone and the fifth to have been destroyed. The RAF now operates nine Reaper drones. Separately, 8 Watchkeeper drones, operated by the British Army have also crashed. This latest news comes as the RAF plans to begin regular flights of its new US MQ-9 SkyGuardian – renamed as ‘Protector’ by the UK – over the UK.
In keeping with its ongoing secrecy around the use of its armed drones, 18 months after the December 2021 crash, the MoD told Drone Wars in June 2023 that the drone “was still awaiting repair.” When we asked for an update in February 2024, we were refused the information with MoD stating that providing such information “would place an unnecessary burden” ahead of releasing the information in its annual report. We appealed this stonewalling and contacted the Information Commissioner. Subsequently the MoD have released the information.
The December 2021 crash is the sixth ‘mishap’ that has occurred to the UK’s armed Reaper UAV fleet since the system came into service in 2008. At least 24 large (Class II and III) military drones operated by UK armed forces have crashed in the last 15 years. The December 2021 accident came less than a month after a newly purchased Reaper came into service with the intention of bringing the UK’s fleet back up to its full strength of ten. Read more →
We’ve added details of 25 more crashes of medium altitude long endurance (MALE) drones to our database since the last update in November 2023 – including details of three US drone crashes in 2023 that have only recently come to light.
Although the use of smaller ‘one-way attack’ drones has grown in prevalence alongside a huge rise in the use of FPV drones in Ukraine, the larger MALE drones – as typified by the Reaper and Bayraktar – continue to be a mainstay for many militaries. While many of the crashes of these systems are due to pilot error, mechanical/electrical failures or other technical problems, we have seen an increase in the number of these aircraft being shot down over the past year.
While it has been widely accepted over recent years that the current generation of MALE drones “are vulnerable in warfighting conflicts involving peer or near-peer adversary” as the MoD’s most recent strategy document on the issue put it (and hence arguing to “go beyond RPAS” to develop autonomous drones), we have actually seen a significant number of these drones brought down to earth by non-state groups such as the Houthis and Hezbollah over recent months.
MALE drones recently shot down by Ansar Allah (Houthis)*
Alongside the fact that these drones are increasing vulnerable to ground launch missile attacks, there continues to be a significant amount of crashes due to technical issues or pilot error. Read more →
‘Protector’ drone flying from RAF Waddington (Credit; RAF)
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.
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. Read more →
Bayraktar TB2 reportedly shot down near Kursk, April 2022
Updated – see below
We’ve added details of another 21 crashes to our drone crash databasefor the first half of 2022 – although 14 of them occurred in the context of the on-going war in Ukraine, so many will have likely been shot down.
It’s important to be aware that we only include larger (Class II and Class III) drones in our database, typified by medium altitude/long endurance drones like the Reaper MQ-9 and Bayraktar TB2. There have been dozens of verified reports of smaller drones being shot down or crashing in that conflict but they are outside the scope of our study. However, it is extremely likely that other large drones have also crashed/been shot down in that conflict but have not been verified.
In addition, as we regularly try to explain, there are many crashes of large drones that simply aren’t made public and so don’t make it into our database. More on this below.
Ukraine
As in any armed conflict, there is a significant amount of disinformation and confusion surrounding on-going events. We are only including details of large drone crashes that have been verified – primarily through use of images. @robLee, @UAVTracker and @Oryx have done sterling work detailing on-going events. Significantly, older Soviet-era reconnaissance drones have also been pressed into service by both sides, with indications that they may be being used as ‘flying missiles’. One of these flew off course, crossing several European borders before crashing in the Croatian capital, Zagreb. Both Russia and Ukraine have denied responsibility. In a similar case, a Ukrainian operated Bayraktar TB2 went off course and ended up crashing off the coast of Romania.
Large UAVs crashed/shot down relating to Russia/Ukraine war (till 30th June)
Elsewhere, during the first six months of 2022, large drones operated by the US, India, France, Saudi Arabia and Philippines air forces have crashed or been shot down. The variety of operators and types of UAVs crashing gives an indication of how difficult it is to operate these systems. Remotely controlling aircraft is incredibly complex and a huge variety of problems can arise leading to an abrupt termination of the flight, including mechanical issue, electrical failure, lost-communication link, weather problems and human error. Read more →
Libyans take selfie with crashed Bayraktar drone, April 2020
Our latest quarterly update has added a further 27 crashes/downings of large (NATO class II and III) UAVs to our drone crash database. This is undoubtedly the largest number we have added in one update and is due to the number of drones operated by Turkey and UAE on behalf of the two belligerents in the the Libyan ‘civil war’ that have been shot down. In the first 6 months of 2020, we have identified 40 large military drone crashes/downings compared to 28 for the whole of 2019 and 19 for 2018.
On average, 2-3 large drones have tumbled to earth per month over the past decade, but 14 drones crashed/were downed in Libya in April/May 2020. While it is always difficult to sift out details of crashes and downings amidst the hyperbole and propaganda, as always we have only included reports which can be verified with photos and video or come from reliable sources. It is likely that other crashes/downings have occurred but have not been verified. At the same time, a number of claimed downings proved false. It should be noted that although every drone crash has been claimed as a downing, images of some wreckage show drones to be virtually complete indicating that they were not necessarily hit by missiles. Read more →
The Drone Wars drone crash database has been updated with a further nineteen crashes of large (Class II and III) military drones; thirteen since the beginning of 2020 and six from 2018/19 only recently revealed. While there have been many claims and counter-claims of drones shot down in Syria, Yemen and Libya, we continue to include only crashes/downings that have been verified by photographs or video. Recording the crash of large military drones is an important means of monitoring the proliferation of these systems as well as documenting their inherent risk – see our report Accidents will happen – for more details. Read more →
