A key piece of military hardware in Iraq and Afghanistan has reached a milestone, officials said Thursday.

The MQ-1 Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle — one of the pervasive UAVs used by forces in the combat zones — has now reached its 250,000th hour of flight.

Air Force officials said the flight that took the Predator system over the mark was made at Creech Air Force Base, Nev., by the 11th Reconnaissance Squadron.

The Predator first was used in the field in the Balkans to support NATO operations in the former Yugoslavia, officials said.

Since then, it has extensively been used as an observation platform and targeting tool in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other locations.

Migrated