The deadly drone that killed Qassem Soleimani weighs as much as an African elephant

• The MQ-9 Reaper drone is known for being one the deadliest unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the world.
• Most recently it carried out the air strike to assassinate Iran's Qassem Soleimani, who's funeral is today with more than a million marching to mourn his death.
• The drone weighs as much as an elephant, can fly higher than commercial aircraft yet be pin-drop silent a mere 250 meters from the ground.

The MQ-9 Reaper, or ‘Predator B’ drone has only one objective — to find, fix and finish its targets. One of the deadliest drones in US’ arsenal is used against ‘dynamic execution targets’. On January 2, it assassinated Iran’s military general, Qassem Soleimani.

Today, Soleimani’s funeral procession is one of the largest ever in Iran with more than a million people flooding the streets and chanting ‘Iran’s wearing black, revenge, revenge’.

The MQ-9 Reaper drone is regarded as one of the deadliest in the world. Not just because of its speed and firepower, but also because of its stealth.

The successor to the MQ-1 Predator drone is capable of flying 250 metres off the ground without anyone below even knowing that it’s there unless they look it up.

The ‘M’ in its name stands for ‘multi-role’ while the 9 designates where it falls in the series of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

At the cost of $64.2 million per unit, the US Air Force has bought 93 of these deadly machines from the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems.

Here’s what makes the MQ-9 Reaper the world’s most feared drone: