US lost or damaged 81 aircraft in Iran war, worth up to $3.3bn, Congress report says

The count

At least 81 US military aircraft, including fighter jets and drones, have been lost or damaged during Operation Epic Fury, the code name for Washington's military campaign against Iran launched on February 28. The figure appears in a congressional report released on Monday, and sources differ on which body produced it: Al Jazeera names the Congressional Budget Office, while The Independent names the Congressional Research Service.

The count includes 12 F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets, one F-35A Lightning II, seven KC-135 Stratotanker refuelling aircraft and 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones, and the list also contains a four-engine E-3 Sentry. Some of the aircraft have since been repaired and returned to service, including eight F-15 Strike Eagles that sustained only light damage when Iran struck Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan in September. The report states that the aircraft were lost or damaged in US operations against Iran since 28 February, and it warns that the number could be revised because of classification, ongoing combat and the attribution of incidents.

Cost estimates

The congressional estimate puts the cost of the aircraft losses at between $1.9bn and $3.3bn as of August 1, with the range depending on whether the Department of Defense moves to replace the lost assets. The wider cost of the war is harder to pin down. The DoD inspector general estimated the price tag at $33.4bn from the first day of the war until June 30. CNN, citing sources, puts the overall cost higher at $45bn, a figure that excludes the cost of infrastructure damage to US military bases in the Gulf targeted by Iran in its retaliatory strikes. The Independent reports that the war has taken the lives of 19 American soldiers and left hundreds more injured.

Iran's claims

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has seized on the figure, posting on X that the real toll is much higher than the report shows.

In May, the Congressional Research Service acknowledged that Iran's armed forces had knocked out 42 US military aircraft, and now this figure has risen to 81 aircraft.

The report does not state that Iranian forces destroyed all 81 aircraft, and Araghchi offered no evidence for his claim that the true number is higher. He also alleged that CENTCOM does not allow even one member of Congress to visit and inspect bases that Washington says are operating normally. The congressional document he attached notes that combat activity fell after the April ceasefire before rising again, and that "conditions remain fluid."

Drone warfare and the wider war

Harlan Ullman, a former naval officer and chairman of the Killowen Group, a government advisory firm, links the US losses to the changing nature of warfare, which relies increasingly on cheap and widely available drones.

The asymmetries of warfare show that even small countries with small militaries can inflict damage on the world's best militaries.

Ullman pointed to the relocation of US B-1 bombers from the UK over fears of Iranian attacks, and to rumours of a drone attack on RAF Fairford, a British base that has hosted US assets during the war. Those rumours prompted the sudden departure of a dozen US aircraft on Sunday. He argued that Iran has many US targets available and that a small drone can do serious damage to large military assets.

On the diplomatic track, Donald Trump told a pre-midterms rally in San Antonio, Texas, on Wednesday that his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is making progress in negotiations with Tehran, while suggesting that a deal is not his preferred outcome.

I think the deal isn't really something that I want to do, but they're willing to offer us anything to stop.

A lasting ceasefire has remained out of reach as the conflict continues into its eighth month. Meanwhile, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which 20 percent of global oil shipments pass, has driven up gas prices for consumers, intensifying the affordability crisis at home.