More than 80 U.S. warplanes have been destroyed or damaged in the course of Donald Trump’s war on Iran at a cost of more than $3 billion, according to a new congressional report.
The Middle Eastern conflict is now in its eighth month and has cost the Pentagon tens of billions of dollars and the lives of at least 18 U.S. service members. According to the Congressional Research Service, U.S. forces have also lost 81 military fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft, including multimillion-dollar drones.
According to their figures, 12 F-15E Strike Eagles have either taken hits or been lost completely, while a state-of-the-art fifth-generation F-35A Lightning II stealth fighter has also been damaged.
Some of the losses have not been widely reported, but others have been big news, including the downing of an F-15E Strike Eagle over Iran and three more F-15s in a friendly-fire incident over Kuwait. F-15s cost upwards of $30 million each.
Another eight were damaged during Iranian strikes on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan in September. The report notes that the fighters involved in that incident returned to service afterward.
There have also been seven KC-135 Stratotankers refueling aircraft either damaged or lost—reported by Forbes to cost $79 million each when inflation is applied to the government’s official $39 million price tag.
The list also states that a $240 million MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial vehicle “crashed in a mishap.”
The Congressional Research Service offers a nonpartisan think tank service that provides information to Congress. The report incorporated DoD and CENTCOM information, as well as information from news reporting, to determine U.S. losses.
The figures mark a significant jump from its last report in May, which revealed that up to 42 planes had been damaged or destroyed.
While that shows a slightly slower rate than in the war’s first three months, it does suggest that the conflict remains hot and dangerous for U.S. service members, and expensive for taxpayers.
In total, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the cost of the damaged aircraft could reach up to $3.3 billion.
The biggest losses from the war are drones. The latest report shows that 45 $30 to $50 million MQ-9 Reaper drones have been destroyed in the fighting. By May, the usable fleet—which is supposed to have a minimum of 189 at all times—had already dropped to 135, Air Force Times reported.
Officially, the Pentagon says it has spent $37.5 billion on the war so far, although Democrats and independent observers think that number could be far higher.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Pentagon, White House, and CENTCOM for comment.
