12 F-15E Jets, 45 MQ-9 Drones: US Lost 81 Aircraft Worth $3.3 Billion in Iran War

The United States has lost or suffered damage to at least 81 military aircraft and drones since the start of the war in Iran, with the total value of the losses estimated at nearly $3.3 billion, according to a new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.

The report, titled US Aircraft Combat Damage in Operation Epic Fury: Considerations for Congress, provides a rare official assessment of US military aircraft losses during the conflict. The list includes advanced platforms such as the F-35A Lightning II, F-15E Strike Eagle and MQ-9 Reaper.

According to the report, US forces lost 12 F-15E aircraft, one F-35A Lightning II fighter, two A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack aircraft and seven KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refuelling aircraft during operations in the Middle East.

Three F-15Es were reportedly shot down in a friendly-fire incident over Kuwait on March 2, while another was brought down over Iran the following month. At least eight additional F-15Es sustained minor damage during Iranian strikes on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan on September 9 and 10.

The losses also included one E-3 Sentry airborne early warning and control aircraft, two MC-130J Commando II special operations aircraft, one HH-60W Jolly Green II combat search-and-rescue helicopter and one MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft.

The US military also lost three MQ-1 multi-role unmanned aircraft and 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones, according to the CRS report.

The MQ-9 Reaper fleet accounts for a significant portion of the reported losses. Individual aircraft are estimated to cost between $30 million and $50 million. An F-15 is valued at more than $30 million, while the F-35A costs more than $92 million.

The E-3 Sentry, an ageing but strategically important surveillance aircraft based on the Boeing 707 airframe, is estimated to cost around $270 million per aircraft. The US Air Force had 32 E-3s in service as of 2015.

Combat losses also included one AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, four AH-6 Little Bird light attack helicopters and one MH-60 Sea Hawk maritime helicopter.

The CRS cautioned that the reported figures are not necessarily final. Some information remains classified, while the status and responsibility for certain incidents are still being assessed. In addition, some of the damaged aircraft could eventually return to service after undergoing repairs.

The financial burden of the conflict has also increased sharply. The cost of weapons used by the US military in Iran reportedly rose by more than $6 billion in just over a month, from $21.7 billion in a recent Congressional Budget Office estimate to $28.1 billion in an estimate from US Central Command.