Britain Loses 100 Unmanned Aircraft In Iraq And Afghanistan
The Herald (U.K.) (05/27/08) Bruce, Ian

The United Kingdom has lost close to 100 UAVs over Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003, including approximately 40 damaged by crash landings and some 50 that were shot down or succumbed to catastrophic midair failure. Among the lost UAVs was a Reaper aircraft worth 10 million pounds that had been in use for less than six months. The Ministry of Defence acknowledges 33 aircraft lost over Iraq, although it has not offered details on the types of aircraft. The surveillance crafts' equipment is considered so sophisticated and vital that commanders have been willing to risk personnel on rescue missions to prevent the enemy from retrieving the aircraft, a policy that has led to the death of at least one British soldier, whose patrol was rescuing another group that had been ambushed while attempting to recover a crashed UAV's sensors. During the Iraq invasion's combat phase in 2003, at least 23 of the older and less reliable Phoenix drones were downed.
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