{"id":1416867,"date":"2026-07-12T12:25:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T09:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/to-replace-the-expensive-mq-9-reaper-the-us-is-developing-a-new-generation-of-cheap-combat-drones\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T12:26:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T09:26:16","slug":"to-replace-the-expensive-mq-9-reaper-the-us-is-developing-a-new-generation-of-cheap-combat-drones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/to-replace-the-expensive-mq-9-reaper-the-us-is-developing-a-new-generation-of-cheap-combat-drones\/","title":{"rendered":"To replace the expensive MQ-9 Reaper: the US is developing a new generation of cheap combat drones"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US Department of Defense has launched a program to create a new generation of low-cost combat drones capable of performing a significant part of the tasks of the MQ-9A Reaper. The new drones should be cheaper, modular, and suitable for mass use in modern warfare.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is reported by Interesting Engineering<\/a> .<\/p>\n

The Pentagon has announced the launch of the Massed Modular Aircraft (MMA) initiative, which will seek to develop a modular, long-range unmanned aerial vehicle that is expected to cost significantly less than the MQ-9A Reaper.<\/p>\n

It is noted that modern combat operations demonstrate the increasing vulnerability of expensive drones in areas with a powerful air defense system. According to the agency, during operations against Iran, the United States lost dozens of MQ-9 Reaper, and total losses are estimated at almost $ 1 billion.<\/p>\n

Relying on a small number of expensive aircraft is no longer appropriate for modern warfare. Instead, the military plans to use a significant number of cheaper drones capable of overwhelming enemy air defenses through mass deployment.<\/p>\n

The Massed Modular Aircraft is expected to perform some of the MQ-9A Reaper’s missions, including reconnaissance, surveillance, intelligence gathering, and precision strikes. The modular design will allow for rapid changes in equipment, sensors, communications, or weapons depending on the mission.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon also emphasizes that the experience of modern wars, in particular Ukraine’s use of inexpensive drones and loitering munitions, has demonstrated the effectiveness of the mass use of cheap unmanned systems, which are capable of inflicting significant losses on the enemy and depleting its air defense resources.<\/p>\n

Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that the United States would purchase Ukrainian-made drones<\/a>. The statement was made during a meeting in Ankara on the sidelines of the NATO summit.<\/p>\n

Also follow \u201cPryamim\u201d<\/strong> on Facebook<\/a> , X<\/a> , Telegram<\/a> , and Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US Department of Defense has launched a program to create a new generation of low-cost combat drones capable of performing a significant part of the tasks of the MQ-9A Reaper. The new drones should be cheaper, modular, and suitable for mass use in modern warfare. This is reported by Interesting Engineering . The Pentagon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":988227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76870,76871,76872,76875],"class_list":["post-1416867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-other-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1416867"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1416868,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416867\/revisions\/1416868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/988227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1416867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1416867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}