A newly released Congressional Research Service report reveals that the United States military has lost or damaged 81 aircraft during the ongoing war with Iran, a toll that underscores the immense cost of confronting the Islamic Republic's aggression. The losses include some of America's most advanced weapons systems, from F-35A fighter jets to E-3 Sentry command aircraft.
What aircraft has the US lost in the Iran war?
Among the destroyed or damaged aircraft are the crown jewels of the US arsenal. The F-35A, the most advanced stealth fighter in the world, and the E-3 Sentry, a four-engine radar platform used to track targets and manage airspace during engagements, have both been hit. The MQ-9 Reaper drones, which serve as the backbone of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations, account for more than half of the total losses.
The financial toll is equally staggering. The report, which cited figures from the Congressional Budget Office, estimates the cost of the lost aircraft since February at between $1.9 billion and $3.3 billion. US Central Command has separately estimated that the war with Iran has cost the US roughly $44 billion total as of September, a figure that does not include damage to infrastructure at American bases across the Middle East.
Are American bases under direct Iranian attack?
Iran's reach has extended to US installations throughout the region. In a particularly brazen strike on the night of September 8, Iranian forces targeted the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, damaging eight F-15 Strike Eagle fighter jets. CNN reported that some of the damaged aircraft, including those F-15s, may have returned to service, but the sheer scale of the losses has raised serious questions about the sustainability of the American campaign.
The Air Force is believed to have roughly 135 MQ-9 Reaper drones in its arsenal, according to the Air Force Times. Yet the military has already lost 45 of those drones in the Middle East this year alone, a rate of attrition that the Atlantic Council describes as