CBS News Says U.S. Has Lost 16 MQ-9 Reaper Drones Since February 28

CBS News Says U.S. Has Lost 16 MQ-9 Reaper Drones Since February 28

The report says the losses began after the Iran war started on February 28, with each MQ-9 Reaper valued at about $30 million.

Fact Check
The core claim is strongly supported by the fetched CBS News page "Iran war's "core strategic objectives are nearing completion," Trump says," which states the total had reached 16 MQ-9 Reaper losses during the war. The earlier CBS live page "7th U.S. service member dies in war with Iran; Mojtaba Khamenei named new supreme leader" independently shows CBS was already reporting cumulative Reaper losses during the same conflict timeline. The fetched Xinhua article explicitly attributes to CBS News the more detailed wording that the 16 losses were since Feb. 28 and notes that a Reaper can cost upwards of $30 million. I could not directly fetch the X post, so the exact social-media wording is unverified, but the substance of the statement matches the available fetched sources.
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Summary

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Terms & Concepts
  • MQ-9 Reaper: A U.S. military unmanned aerial vehicle used for surveillance and strike missions.