Video a MQ-9 “Reaper” drone tried to break an unidentified flying object for the first time
Drone MQ-9 “Reaper” in flight, photo: Abaca / Abaca Press / Profimedia Images
A recent hearing in the United States Congress has published a video recording with a Hellfire rocket launched by a MQ-9 “Reaper” drone that “ricocked” from an unidentified flying object, which left observers, including American legislators, Gizmodo reports.
“A hearing in the room of representatives on unidentified air phenomena (UAP) left amazed by the parliamentarians when the video samples showed an American drone by drawing a hellfire rocket to a light globe off the ribs of the Yemen-just for the object to remain intact and continue to travel, raising an urgent questions” News.
The Pentagon decided a few years ago to refer to unidentified flying objects (UFO) with the term “unidentified air phenomena” (AUP).
The registration was first distributed public by Congressmen Eric Burlison, a Missouri Republican who stated that it was done [pe] October 30, 2024. He described the filming as presenting “a MQ-9 drone that follows a globe or this object off the ribs of Yemen.” Burlison said the images are “presented as they were received from an integrity warning. An independent review is in progress.”
“The first known case in which a Reaper drone attacks an air target of any type.”
The object is most likely to connect with military conflicts in the Yemen region, where the registration was filmed, and an “extraterrestrial” track seems somewhat implausible.
The site specialized in the military matters The War Zone wrote the following about the recently presented images:
“The images and circumstances behind them remain unconfirmed, but this seems to be the first known case in which a Reaper drone attacks an air target of any type in an operational framework.”
The comment is related to the fact that these drones are designed to hit terrestrial or sea targets.
The Russians caused the collapse of a MQ-9 drone “Reaper” in the Black Sea
The War Zone reminds, however, that the idea of using MQ-9 drones in an air-air role, at least for self-defense, is not new. “In a 2017 test, a Reaper drone managed to break a target drone using an AIM-9X Sidewinder air missile. There had already been a precedent at that time for arming the drones in this way, with at least a few presidential models to be able to launch infrared extinguisher rockets before the Iraq in 2003,” explained the US.
In at least one case, in 2002, a Predator drone pulled a extinguisher on an Iraqi Mig-25 foxbat hunting plane trying to break it.
It is not clear whether the apparent test of the MQ-9 “Reaper” drone to hit the air targets is related to the incident that took place above the Black Sea two years ago, when such an unmanned aircraft collapsed at sea after being shocked by a Russian fighter plane. The price of a single drone MQ-9 is estimated at about $ 30-33 million.
The Russian pilots who caused the collapse of the drone were then awarded by the former Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Şoigu. Two months later, the US accused Russia of his military aircraft tried to cause the collapse of another “Reaper” above Syria.
