At the very least 9 MQ-9s are deployed to Puerto Rico’s Rafael Hernández Airport, every carrying between six and ten AGM-114 Hellfire missiles.
U.S. Air Pressure MQ-9A Reapers deployed to Puerto Rico’s Rafael Hernández Airport in assist of counter-narcotics operations within the Caribbean are actually routinely flying with as much as ten AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles every. Images rising on-line present various loadouts, which embrace between six and ten AGM-114s, in addition to exterior gas tanks and pods for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR).
Lots of the pictures out there on-line present the Reapers armed with six Hellfires, in addition to a pod. Notably, on Dec. 24, 2025, MQ-9s had been photographed with eight AGM-114s, and on Dec. 27 a picture by Reuters seems to point out a Reaper carrying ten Hellfires.
And some days later we’ve got now beat that file with a complete of 10x AGM-114 Hellfires on a single unit.
Armed with a pair of 4x racks and a single 2x rack. pic.twitter.com/L1YauZlk4u
— SA Defensa (@SA_Defensa) December 27, 2025
5 years in the past, on Sep. 10, 2020, the Air Pressure had flown for the primary time a Reaper with eight Hellfires at Creech AFB, Nevada, as a part of an MQ-9 Operational Flight Program 2409 software program improve. This was formally the biggest variety of missiles on the drone, not less than till a couple of days in the past, though this time the service repeated that feat in an operational situation.
BQN morning updates 8:59am 12/24/2025. pic.twitter.com/CHznbgS7xH
— Michael Bonet 🇵🇷 (@MichaelBonet8) December 24, 2025
As of Dec. 25, flight tracker and plane spotter profile ‘LatAmMilMovements’ has counted 9 Air Pressure Reapers that progressively reached Rafael Hernández Airport, situated within the Aguadilla municipality of Puerto Rico. The plane arrived there over the earlier days.
New publicly out there pictures present that 9 USAF MQ-9As have flown/are flying out of Aguadilla (BQN/TJBQ) 🇵🇷 in assist of ongoing counternarcotics ops within the Caribbean.
The 9 serials are: 14-4242, 14-4269, 14-4275, 17-4348, 17-4355, 17-4356, 19-4390, 19-4398, 20-4408. pic.twitter.com/1cUkfIfB2W
— LatAmMilMovements (@LatAmMilMVMTs) December 24, 2025
The airport, which now hosts a big contingent of U.S. forces, has been the main focus of many spotters, with a great deal of pictures and knowledge rising on-line. Nevertheless, the navy is now taking steps to take care of a level of Operational Safety (OPSEC), and is inserting covers on fences close to Particular Operations Command’s (SOCOM) belongings to dam the view.
📍Rafael Hernandez Airport, #UnitedStates (🇺🇸)
Personnel have begun emplacing covers on fences blocking spotters from viewing SOCOM actions at Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla. pic.twitter.com/5JuMS6TPPU
— SA Defensa (@SA_Defensa) December 29, 2025
MQ-9A Reapers with six and eight Hellfire missiles
Previous to the Reaper with the ten Hellfires, photographer Michael Bonet had captured Reapers working from Rafael Hernández Airport on Dec. 24, geared up with each six and eight Hellfires. The eight Hellfire payload nonetheless shouldn’t be as clearly captured because the Reaper/s with the six Hellfires, and wishes a discerning eye to see the size of the protrusions beneath the wings to determine the shops.
Equally to the AH-64 Apache, Reapers use a M299 four-rail launcher to hold 4 Hellfires in units of two, whereas the M310 twin-rail launcher has lengthy been utilized by the MQ-9 to hold two Hellfires side-by-side. The Reaper/s with the six Hellfire loadout are geared up with three M310s on the inner-most and center pylons of each wings,as seen in clear entrance and aspect pictures of the Reaper on the runway and the flightline.
The Reaper/s with the eight-Hellfire loadout is seen whereas on last for touchdown (captured from the rear), in addition to after touchdown (captured from the entrance). Certainly, we don’t know if this is identical Reaper or two totally different plane with the identical loadout.
Within the rear shot, the presence of an M299 on the left wing’s outer-most pylon will be confirmed from the tail-end define of two Hellfires, one under the opposite, peeking out from behind the underside vertical stabilizer. Within the frontal shot of a Reaper on the runway, albeit at a distance, we are able to see the dual and quad-rack association fairly clearly.
BQN morning updates 10:38am 12/24/2025. pic.twitter.com/XZaJqtt6ii
— Michael Bonet 🇵🇷 (@MichaelBonet8) December 24, 2025
Conveniently, @MichaelBonet8 caught a MQ-9 with 6x Hellfires on board this morning. pic.twitter.com/RM5lW392AA
— SA Defensa (@SA_Defensa) December 24, 2025
Reaper with ten Hellfires
The picture launched by Reuters displaying the MQ-9 armed with ten Hellfire missiles exhibits the plane parked on the flightline. The picture was first shared by ‘SA Defensa’, noting the uncommon loadout.
We are able to clearly see a four-missile M299 launcher on the left wing, and the reflection of the seeker heads of the Hellfires put in on the correct wing’s M299 launcher. Nevertheless, upon shut inspection, the physique and the seeker heads of two extra Hellfires on an M310 launcher will also be seen on the correct wing.
All of the Reapers are additionally carrying an unidentified sensor payload and an exterior gas tank, one beneath every wing. Often the Reaper’s 1,200 lb gas tank is mounted on the inner-most station of both of the wings, whereas the pod is on the outermost station.
Whatever the variety of Hellfires and the required rail launchers, this appears to be the optimum loadout configuration chosen by the U.S. navy whereas executing missions requiring each ISR and strike capabilities with prolonged vary.
The unknown pod is usually noticed put in on MQ-9s, however has by no means been formally recognized. Two potentialities will be instantly excluded because it doesn’t bear resemblance to both the RDESS/SOAR or SkyTower II pods now operated by the U.S. Marine Corps for digital assist and enhanced cross-domain communications.
The pod bears some resemblance, not less than for the widespread form, to the Sledgehammer digital assault pod and the Customary Payload Interface Design and Integration (SPIDI) and NATO pods, though all of them miss the aperture on the entrance. One other risk might be a rumored system referred to as “Outdragon,” reportedly used for Communications Intelligence (COMINT), however no particulars can be found aside from a International Army Sale to the UK in 2019.
🇺🇸 Reaper ⚡☠️
Hoy en Puerto Rico se ha visto un UCAV Reaper armado hasta los dientes, que además incluye un depósito de flamable y un Pod especial, probablemente se trate de un Pod de inteligencia de comunicaciones (COMINT) denominado “Outdragon”.Este Pod se ha usado… pic.twitter.com/lXjFMi1Lya
— Historias de aviación 🇪🇦 (@ReinaldoDMM) December 24, 2025
Growing the Reaper’s payload
Within the Sep. 10, 2020, MQ-9 Operational Flight Program 2409 take a look at at Creech AFB, the 53rd Wing had introduced that the 556th Take a look at and Analysis Squadron’s first flight of the Reaper with eight Hellfires strengthened the platform’s “persistent assault” position. Up till that trial, the Reaper was “restricted to 4 AGM-114s throughout two stations,” defined the service, however the brand new software program enabled the Hellfire to be loaded “on stations that beforehand had been reserved for 500-pound class bombs or gas tanks.”
Take a look at system configuration supervisor Grasp Sgt. Melvin French was quoted within the press launch by the 53rd Wing, explaining that “the {hardware}/launcher is identical that we use on the outboard stations.” This was a reference to the M310 twin-rail launcher, of which 4 had been put in on the Reaper proven within the pictures, two on every of the wings.
The M299 launcher in the meantime is normally seen on assault helicopters such because the U.S. Military’s AH-64 Apache, in addition to different platforms such because the AC-130, AH-1 and MH-60. Producer Marvin Group says on its product catalogue that the M299 and M310 are additionally utilized by the AH-1 Cobra, A-129 Mangusta, Eurocopter Tiger, OH-58D Kiowa Warrior and the C-130 Hercules.
Appears to be 10x MC-130s and 11x CV-22Bs along with the 10x MQ-9s.
— SA Defensa (@SA_Defensa) December 28, 2025
PSE morning updates 9:11am 12/28/2025. pic.twitter.com/msu83b5B71
— Michael Bonet 🇵🇷 (@MichaelBonet8) December 28, 2025
Stress on Venezuela
Rafael Hernández Airport has turn out to be a hub of the U.S. Air Pressure Particular Operations Command (AFSOC) belongings. This provides to the appreciable U.S. naval presence within the Caribbean Sea, led by the usGerald R. Ford Provider Strike Group.
Current pictures from Reuters present that not less than 5 of the ten MC-130Js deployed to Puerto Rico are in full CR-2 configuration.
Functionality Launch 2 (CR-2) consists of:– AN/APQ-187 Silent Knight Radar– Honeywell JetWave SATCOM– AN/ALQ-251 Radio Frequency Countermeasures (RFCM) pic.twitter.com/QkJEVSX6Ns
— LatAmMilMovements (@LatAmMilMVMTs) December 29, 2025
The U.S. continues to bolster its airpower within the Caribbean, with not less than 10 MQ-9A Reaper drones, 11 CV-22B Ospreys, 10 MC-130J Commando IIs, and 36 fighter plane now ahead deployed to Puerto Rico.
• BQN: Particular ops + drone hub• RVR: Strike belongings + IWOARG ACE• SJU:… pic.twitter.com/fIDqU7H0HC
— Ian Ellis (@ianellisjones) December 29, 2025
That is thought-about the biggest U.S. naval deployment round Latin America in many years. Beside the 9 to 10 MQ-9s at Rafael Hernandez, not less than ten MC-130J Commando IIs and eleven CV-22B Ospreys of the AFSOC have been tracked and photographed.
U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs and U.S. Air Pressure F-35As additionally landed in Puerto Rico, with the previous flying off Venezuela since October. B-52 bombers have flown routes skirting the nation’s airspace too.
A particular shout out to Michael Bonet for permitting us to make use of his pictures.
