Two U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones reportedly collided in Syria today, but may also have been engaged by militants on the ground. The incident comes after a number of curiously configured Reapers have been spotted in the skies above the country's western Idlib province in the past few days and the latest strike in that region involving an AGM-114R9X missile. This secretive version of the Hellfire missile uses an array of six sword-like blades that pop out of its body instead of a traditional high-explosive warhead.
Earlier in the day, reports had emerged that militant groups in Idlib opposed to Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad had shot down two drones, possibly belonging to Russia. However, subsequent pictures and videos that appeared on social media suggested that at least one of these downed unmanned aircraft might have been an MQ-9. We have reached out to the U.S. military to try to get further confirmation about the loss of the Reapers.
It's not clear why anti-Assad groups would necessarily have targeted drones that might be belonged to the United States, but if this was the case, they may simply have had no way of telling who the operator was and thought they were flown by Russians or other pro-Assad forces.
Silly Seppos scoring some own goals. and their head chopping pawns on the ground illegally in Syria..