The African Command of the US Armed Forces (AFRICOM) has admitted that about a year ago, an Italian drone and at least one American MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle were shot down in Libya from a Russian-made Pantsir-C1 anti-aircraft missile and cannon system (ZRPK). This was announced on September 11 by AFRICOM's chief of intelligence, Rear Admiral Heidi Berg, writes Al-Monitor.
In what area and under what circumstances the drones were destroyed, Berg did not specify. She also did not give other details of the incidents.
The Military Informant Telegram channel suggested that this is an MQ-9 shot down on November 20, 2019 over the Libyan city of Tarhuna, 80 kilometers south of the country's capital, Tripoli. Presumably, it was its fragments that were captured in the photographs that had previously appeared on the network.
In August, the US Army presented a plan to create a family of multipurpose air-launched unmanned aerial vehicles, intended, in particular, to destroy the air defense systems (air defense) of a potential enemy, in particular, Pantsir-C1. It was reported that such drones will differ in small size and weight (within 100 kilograms), speed up to 130 kilometers per hour and combat range up to 350 kilometers. In some cases, drones will be able to reach speeds of up to 650 kilometers per hour, making “jerks” from one area to another.
In Libya, confrontation continues between the Government of National Accord (GNA), which controls Tripoli and the territories in the west of the country and is supported by Turkey, and the Libyan National Army under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, supported by Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Its unofficial allies are France and the United Arab Emirates – the latter, according to some sources, supplied the army with equipment, including equipment purchased from Russia. In addition, the African command of the US Armed Forces stated that two thousand fighters of the Russian private military company (PMC) Wagner are fighting on the side of the LNA, and Russia supplies the army with equipment, including MiG-29 fighters.
