by Houthi air defense systems over Sanaa in western Yemen the previous day. The aircraft took off from Chabelley Airport in Djibouti, and was armed. On 18 September 2018, the USAF announced that an MQ-9 armed with an air-to-air missile successfully shot down a smaller target drone in November 2017. The drone was operated by the 432nd Wing. While the destruction of a target drone is a routine USAF exercise, this event was the first instance of a Reaper destroying a small, maneuvering aerial target. On 6 June 2019, Houthis shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper over Yemen. According to United States Central Command, it was shot down by an SA-6 surface-to-air missile that was enabled with Iranian assistance. On 21 August 2019, another un-armed MQ-9 was shot down by Houthis over Dhamar, Yemen, by a Yemini made Fater-1 missile, an improved SA-6. On 23 November 2019, a US MQ-9 Reaper was shot down by a Pantsir system operated by the Libyan National Army or Wagner Group over Tripoli, Libya. According to journalist David Cenciotti, the drone was lost after being jammed by Russian Wagner militias working in support of the Libyan National Army. On 3 January 2020, a US MQ-9 missile strike at Baghdad International Airport killed Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces. On 18 August 2020, US Department of Defense announced that two US MQ-9 Reapers had crashed in a mid-air collision over Syria. However, claims from local media said that at least one drone might have been shot down by Syrian Opposition rebel fighters or Turkish forces. In April 2021, U.S. and Polish militaries have agreed on a long-negotiated plan to increase the American presence in Poland with two units of MQ-9 Reapers deployed by the USAF. On 14 July 2022, a MQ-9 Reaper operated by the 25th Attack Group crashed during a training mission in Romania. The MQ-9 drones have been deployed to the Romanian 71st Air Base in 2021, starting their operational flights on 1 February 2021. NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) initially expressed interest in a production version of the B-002 turbofan-powered variant, but instead leased an unarmed Reaper variant, which carries the GA-ASI company name "Altair". Altair is one of the first three "Predator-B" airframes. The other two airframes, known as "Predator-B 001" and "Predator-B