RobotRisk › General Atomics / U.S. Air Force › 16 Dec 2024
$13 Million Military Reaper Drone Lost After Propeller Fell Off
S4 · 16 Dec 2024 · General Atomics / U.S. Air Force · Mediterranean Sea
Record
| Company | General Atomics / U.S. Air Force |
| Industry | Other |
| Type(s) | crash |
| Date | 16 Dec 2024 (day precision) |
| Time of day | not documented |
| Location | Mediterranean Sea |
| Severity | (serious injury, total loss, or grounding) |
| Scale | $13M aircraft, total loss |
| Confidence | high |
| Verified flag | Yes - independently re-checked against the cited source |
Summary
A U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone (432nd Wing/20th Attack Squadron) crashed into the Mediterranean Sea after a splined coupling assembly failure caused the propeller to decouple from the engine in flight, resulting in total loss of the ~$13 million aircraft; wreckage not recovered.
Primary source
Business Insider / Air Force Times
Publisher: Business Insider / Air Force Times · Retrieved: 2026-09-16
Supporting source rows (1)
| Date | Supporting source row | Publisher | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Dec 2024 | $13 Million Military Reaper Drone Lost After Propeller Fell Off | Business Insider / Air Force Times | Business Insider / Air F |
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