미공군이 보유한 MQ-9의 1/4이 떨어짐

[위종민]

8월 13일 워싱턴포스트에 실린 기사에 따르면 MQ-9 리퍼가 현재까지 45기 손실됐다고 하네요. 전체 보유량의 1/4에 해당하고, 손실액은 13억 달러라고 합니다. 

모두 격추된 건 아니고, 통제를 상실한 뒤 추락한 기체들도 있고 지상에서 손실된 기체들도 있다고 합니다. 

미공군은 애초 리퍼가 고위험 공역에서 생존할 수 없다고 판단하고 빨리 퇴역시키려고 하지만, 실제로 손실율이 빠르게 높아지자 더 많은 리퍼를 요구하고 있습니다 ㅎㅎ 

미국, 리퍼 보유량의 4분의 1을 잃다

조지프 던컨

2026년 8월 16일

군사항공, 뉴스

숫자는 폭탄처럼 떨어졌다. MQ-9 리퍼 약 45대가 사라졌다. 전체 기단의 약 4분의 1에 해당하며, 미 국방부가 이 단일 무기체계에서만 추산한 손실액은 13억 달러를 넘는다. 워싱턴포스트는 8월 13일 미 당국자 3명을 인용해 이 수치를 보도했다. 이 드론은 지금까지 미군이 보유한 어떤 전투기보다도 이란 상공에서 더 많은 공격 임무를 조용히 수행해왔다.

조종사를 태우지 않는 기체로서는 놀라운 수준의 소모율이다. 그리고 이 수치는 미 공군이 수년간 스스로 벌여온 불편한 논쟁 한가운데 떨어졌다. 느리지만 충실한 리퍼는 현대 전장에서 살아남지 못하는 구식 유물인가, 아니면 전체 작전의 숨은 MVP인가? 이번 주 누구에게 묻느냐에 따라 답은 둘 다다.

주요 사실

| 항목 | 내용 |
|---|---|
| 기종 | General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper |
| 보도된 손실 | 약 45대, 전체 기단의 약 25% |
| 추산 비용 | 13억 달러 이상(Washington Post, 2026년 8월 13일) |
| 기체당 가격 | 약 3,000만 달러(최근 미 공군 도입분 약 1,600만 달러, MQ-9B 약 3,000만 달러) |
| 전쟁 전 기단 | 약 185대, 2026년 5월 중순에는 약 135대로 감소 |
| 분쟁 | 이란을 상대로 한 Operation Epic Fury, 2026년 2월 말~4월 초 |
| 모두 격추된 것은 아님 | 미 당국자들에 따르면 일부는 데이터링크 장애로 손실 |

기단의 4분의 1이 사라지다

2월 28일 교전이 시작되기 전 미군은 약 185대의 리퍼를 운용하고 있었다. 이 가운데 약 165대는 공군, 20대는 해병대 소속이었다. 5월 중순 데이비드 테이버 중장은 상원에서 미 공군이 실제로 사용할 수 있는 기체가 약 135대까지 줄었다고 밝혔다. 워싱턴포스트가 전쟁 전체에서 약 45대가 손실됐다고 보도한 수치는, 그 숫자가 얼마나 빠르게 줄어들었는지를 보여준다.

모든 손실이 명확한 격추였던 것은 아니다. 한 당국자는 리퍼 여러 대가 적의 공격으로 격추된 것이 아니라, 기체와 멀리 떨어진 운용요원 사이의 데이터링크가 끊어진 뒤 추락했다고 신문에 말했다. 다른 기체들은 이란이 역내 미군기지를 공격하면서 지상에서 파괴됐다. 테헤란은 20여 대를 격추했다고 주장했고, 예멘 후티는 10여 대를 추가로 격추했다고 주장했다. 그러나 45대라는 수치는 미국 측이 자체적으로 집계한 숫자다.

원정 비행선에 있는 MQ-9 리퍼. 일부 리퍼는 미사일이 아니라 데이터링크 장애와 지상 공격으로 손실됐다. (미 공군 사진)

리퍼의 문제는 임무 자체에 내재돼 있다. 속도가 느리고, 한 번에 24시간 넘게 비행하며, 적이 가장 방어하려는 바로 그 지역의 저고도에서 오래 머물면서 이동식 미사일과 드론 발사대를 추적한다. 그래서 리퍼는 끈질긴 사냥꾼인 동시에 큰 표적이기도 하다.

“유인기든 무인기든 이동식 미사일 발사대를 찾으면서 표적 지역 상공에 오래 머무는 동안에는 매우 취약합니다.”

휴스턴 캔트웰 예비역 준장 — 전 F-16 및 MQ-9 조종사, 미첼연구소

이란은 유인 전투기에 대해서도 반격할 수 있다는 점을 보여줬다. F-15E 스트라이크 이글과 A-10 선더볼트 II를 격추했고, 미 공군 F-35에도 파편 피해를 입혔다. 리퍼처럼 느린 기체에게는 이란의 적외선 유도 방공체계가 특히 떨쳐내기 어려운 위협이었다.

이란 국영매체는 위 영상처럼 잔해를 공개하는 데 매우 적극적이었다. 그러나 더 흥미로운 반응은 미국 측에서 나왔고, 예상과는 달랐다.

미 공군의 뜻밖의 MVP

5월, 직업 군 경력 대부분을 전투기 조종사로 보낸 미 공군참모총장 케네스 S. 윌스바크 장군은 하원 군사위원회에 출석해 최고의 활약을 펼친 존재로 드론을 꼽았다. 그는 F-16, F-22, F-35, A-10, B-52, B-2 등 미군이 보유한 거의 모든 종류의 항공기가 이란을 상대로 출격했다고 지적했다. 그럼에도 불구하고 그는 이렇게 말했다.

“Epic Fury에서 아마도 가장 가치 있는 전력은 무인기였던 MQ-9이었습니다. 이란을 상대로 수행한 타격 횟수만 놓고 보면 MQ-9에 근접하는 다른 플랫폼은 없습니다.”

케네스 S. 윌스바크 장군 — 미 공군참모총장

이 평가의 계산법은 가혹하지만 단순하다. 리퍼는 갑자기 나타나는 표적을 찾아 타격하는 위험하고 지루하며 끝없이 반복되는 임무를 수행한다. 그리고 한 대가 손실돼도 어느 가족에게 전사 통보 전화가 걸려가지는 않는다.

미국은 6주간의 격렬한 전투 동안 이란에서 1만3,000개 이상의 표적을 타격했으며, 그 가운데 4,000개 이상은 갑자기 나타나 현장에서 즉시 타격해야 했던 표적이었다. 리퍼는 그 한가운데 있었고, 단 한 명의 승무원도 위험에 노출시키지 않은 채 임무를 수행했다.

리퍼를 제작하는 제너럴 아토믹스는 훨씬 덜 외교적이고 훨씬 더 의기양양한 반응을 보였다.

“고강도 경쟁 환경에서는 효과가 없을 것이라는 낡은 예측은 전부 틀렸습니다. 사람들이 불가능하다고 말하는 동안, 리퍼는 실제로 현장에서 임무를 수행하고 있었습니다.”

C. 마크 브링클리 — 제너럴 아토믹스 대변인

이제 다시 사들여라

여기에 반전이 있다. 미 공군은 수년간 리퍼가 강력한 적과의 전쟁에서 살아남을 수 없다며 퇴역시키고 싶어 했다. 그런데 실제로 강한 적과 싸워 수십 대를 잃고 나자, 곧바로 더 많은 리퍼가 필요하다고 판단했다.

“우리는 손실된 규모를 우려하고 있습니다.”라고 테이버는 상원의원들에게 말했다. 그는 미 공군이 현재 “가능한 한 많은 MQ-9A를 다시 확보하기 위해” 서두르고 있다고 덧붙였다.

말처럼 쉬운 일은 아니다. 제너럴 아토믹스는 판매할 수 있는 신조 또는 회사 소유 MQ-9A가 10대도 남지 않았다고 밝혔다. 다만 퇴역 기체를 재생할 수 있고, 데이비스-몬산의 ‘본야드’에도 더 많은 기체가 보관돼 있다.

마지막으로 새로 생산된 리퍼의 가격은 대당 약 1,600만 달러였으며, 더 큰 후속형인 MQ-9B는 약 3,000만 달러다.

“우리는 MQ-9을 도태시키고 있지 않습니다.”라고 트로이 마인크 미 공군장관은 강조했다. 다만 그는 미래 전력은 한 종류의 드론이 아니라 여러 종류의 드론으로 구성될 것이라고 설명했다.

그렇게 해서 소박한 리퍼는 이란 전쟁을 자신이 싸웠던 방식 그대로 마무리했다. 조용히 없어서는 안 될 존재였고, 끝없이 소모됐으며, 갑자기 대체하기 매우 어려운 전력이 됐다.

기단의 4분의 1을 잃은 것은 원래 리퍼의 시대가 끝났음을 증명해야 했다. 그러나 실제로는 정반대를 증명했다. 미국은 리퍼를 충분히 확보할 수가 없다.

출처: Washington Post(2026년 8월 13일), Air & Space Forces Magazine, Jerusalem Post, Middle East Eye, Aerospace Global News. 손실 수치는 보도된 내용에 따른 것이며, 별도로 언급된 일부 수치는 여전히 논란이 있는 주장이다.

MQ-9 Reaper Losses: 45 Drones Gone in the Iran War

MQ-9 Reaper Losses: 45 Drones Gone in the Iran War

America Just Lost a Quarter of Its Reapers

by Joseph Duncan | Aug 16, 2026 | Military Aviation, News | 0 comments

The number landed like a dropped bomb: roughly 45 MQ-9 Reapers gone, about a quarter of the entire fleet, at a cost the Pentagon puts north of $1.3 billion for that one weapon system alone. That is the tally the Washington Post reported on August 13, citing three U.S. officials, for the drone that has quietly done more of America's killing over Iran than any fighter in the inventory.

It is a staggering attrition figure for a machine that never carried a pilot. And it lands in the middle of an awkward argument the Air Force has been having with itself for years: is the slow, faithful Reaper a relic that dies in modern airspace, or the unsung MVP of the whole campaign? Depending on who you ask this week, it is both.

Quick Facts

Aircraft	General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper
Reported losses	~45 airframes, roughly 25% of the fleet
Estimated cost	Over $1.3 billion (Washington Post, Aug 13, 2026)
Unit cost	~$30 million (recent USAF buys ~$16M; MQ-9B ~$30M)
Pre-war fleet	About 185; down to ~135 by mid-May 2026
Conflict	Operation Epic Fury vs. Iran, late Feb–early April 2026
Not all shot down	Some lost to data-link failures, per U.S. officials

A Quarter of the Fleet, Gone

Before the shooting started on February 28, the U.S. military fielded roughly 185 Reapers, about 165 with the Air Force and 20 with the Marine Corps. By mid-May, Lt. Gen. David Tabor told the Senate the Air Force's usable fleet had fallen to around 135. The Post's figure of some 45 lost across the war captures just how fast that number bled.

But you can fly a military jet.

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Not every loss was a clean kill. One official told the paper that a number of Reapers were not downed by hostile fire at all, but crashed after the data link between the aircraft and its distant operators broke. Others were destroyed on the ground when Iran struck U.S. bases across the region. Tehran has claimed a couple dozen; the Houthis in Yemen have claimed a dozen more. The 45 is the American side's own math.

An MQ-9 Reaper on an expeditionary flight line. Some Reaper losses came not from missiles but from data-link failures and strikes on the ground. USAF photo.

The Reaper's problem is baked into its job description. It is slow, it flies for more than 24 hours at a time, and it loiters low over the exact places the enemy most wants to defend, hunting mobile missile and drone launchers. That makes it a patient hunter and a fat target in the same breath.

“Any aircraft, manned or unmanned, is very vulnerable while loitering over a target area searching for mobile missile launchers.”

Retired Brig. Gen. Houston Cantwell — Former F-16 and MQ-9 pilot, Mitchell Institute

Iran, for its part, has proven it can bite back even against manned jets, downing an F-15E Strike Eagle and an A-10 Thunderbolt II, and putting shrapnel into a U.S. Air Force F-35. Against something as slow as a Reaper, its infrared-guided defenses have been especially hard to shake.

Iranian state media has been only too happy to parade the wreckage, as in the footage above. But the more interesting reaction came from the American side, and it was not the one you would expect.

The Air Force's Unlikely MVP

In May, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach, a career fighter pilot, stood in front of the House Armed Services Committee and handed the game ball to a drone. Nearly every jet in the inventory flew against Iran, he noted, the F-16, F-22, F-35, A-10, B-52, and B-2 among them. And yet.

“For Epic Fury, perhaps the most valuable player was unmanned: the MQ-9. No other platform is even close to the MQ-9 in terms of the number of strikes against Iran.”

Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach — U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff

The math behind the praise is brutal but simple: the Reaper does the dangerous, boring, endless work of finding and hitting pop-up targets, and when one is lost, no family gets a phone call. The U.S. hit more than 13,000 targets in Iran during six weeks of heavy fighting, including over 4,000 that appeared and had to be struck on the spot. The Reaper was in the thick of that, and it did it without risking a single aircrew.

General Atomics, which builds the Reaper, was less diplomatic and more triumphant.

“All of these tired predictions about ineffectiveness in a highly contested environment were simply wrong. While people were saying it couldn’t be done, Reaper was out there doing it.”

C. Mark Brinkley — General Atomics spokesperson

Now Buy Them Back

Here is the twist. For years the Air Force wanted to retire the Reaper, arguing it could not survive a fight with a serious enemy. Then it fought one, lost dozens, and promptly decided it needs more. “We are concerned about how they’ve attrited,” Tabor told senators, adding the service is scrambling to “buy back as many of the MQ-9As as we possibly can right now.”

That is easier said than done. General Atomics says it has fewer than 10 new or company-owned MQ-9As left to sell, though decommissioned airframes could be refurbished and more sit in the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan. The last new Reapers cost about $16 million each; the bigger MQ-9B successor runs around $30 million. “We are not divesting the MQ-9,” Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink insisted, while pointing to a future built from several drones rather than one.

So the humble Reaper ends the Iran war the way it fought it: quietly indispensable, endlessly expendable, and suddenly very hard to replace. Losing a quarter of the fleet was supposed to prove the drone's day was done. Instead it proved the opposite, that America cannot get enough of them.

Sources: Washington Post (Aug 13, 2026); Air & Space Forces Magazine; Jerusalem Post; Middle East Eye; Aerospace Global News. Loss figures are as reported and, where noted, remain contested claims.

[김유철]

진짜 여기서 욕심부리지 말고 철저히 쓰고 버려도 아깝지 않은 물건을 유지해야 답이 있다고 봅니다.

한국도 엔진 등 주요 구성품을 중국보다는 싸게는 아니어도 그래도 미국입장에서는 싸보이는 물건을 만들면 여러모로 활용의 길이 보일거라 생각되네요.

[위종민]

사실 무인기는 인명손실 없다는 게 장점이니 요구되는 성능을 내는 한도 안에서 싸게, 더 많이가 답이긴 하죠 ㅎㅎ

[ssn688]

https://www.defensenews.com/industry/techwatch/2026/07/08/pentagon-to-explore-cheaper-replacements-for-the-mq-9-reaper/
미 공군이 리퍼 후계를 생각할 때의 기준이 소모를 견딜 수 있는 경제성인가 봅니다. 소모를 감당할 수 있는 가격의 기준이 "3천만 불 미만"이네요.

[위종민]

가격대만 본다면 지금 당장엔 MQ-9A를 MQ-9B로 바꿔야겠네요 ㅎㅎ