WASHINGTON — The Congressional Research Service now counts 81 U.S. military aircraft as lost or damaged since the United States launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran on Feb. 28, nearly double the 42 aircraft it counted in May.
The Oct. 5 revision adds jets damaged in a September Iranian strike on a base in Jordan, helicopter losses drawn from a Pentagon inspector general report, and a sharply higher count of lost Reaper drones. The service cautioned that the total is not a count of destroyed aircraft, noting, “Some damaged aircraft may have been returned to active service.”
The list includes 49 drones, 13 fighter aircraft, seven refueling aircraft, seven helicopters, two ground attack aircraft, two special operations aircraft, and a reconnaissance aircraft. Among the drones are 45 MQ-9 Reapers, three MQ-1s, and an MQ-4C Triton.
The deadliest loss on the list remains the March 12 crash of a KC-135 Stratotanker in western Iraq, which killed all six crew members. Central Command said the loss was not the result of hostile or friendly fire. Another KC-135 made an emergency landing at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel.
A Navy squadron commander was lost when an MH-60S Sea Hawk from the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush made an emergency landing in the Arabian Sea on July 1. The Navy said there was no indication of hostile action. Three of the four crew members were recovered; the Navy identified the fourth as Cmdr. Gabriel Edwards, commanding officer of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 5, and suspended its search for him July 5 after more than 102 hours. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao directed that Edwards be posthumously promoted to captain.
Several aircraft on the list trace to the April mission to recover the two-person crew of an F-15E Strike Eagle shot down over Iran. Both crew members were rescued in separate search-and-rescue operations. That jet is one of 12 Strike Eagles on the list. An A-10 Thunderbolt II supporting the rescue mission crashed after taking enemy fire, Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Dan Caine said; the pilot ejected over friendly territory. An HH-60W Jolly Green II combat rescue helicopter was damaged by small-arms fire, Caine said.
Two MC-130J Commando II transports that had flown commandos into Iran suffered a mechanical failure and could not take off, Reuters reported. U.S. troops destroyed the two transports and four helicopters rather than leave sensitive equipment behind. The inspector general later said U.S. forces destroyed four AH-6 Little Bird helicopters during rescue operations.
Iranian strikes on two air bases account for 15 of the aircraft on the list, all damaged on the ground. An Iranian missile strike on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, damaged five KC-135s in mid-March; a March 27 strike damaged an E-3 Sentry in what the CRS report described as “a direct hit.” At Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, a ballistic missile attack Sept. 8-9 caused one A-10 to lose a wing and lightly damaged eight F-15Es, which were returned to service, a U.S. official told Reuters. The official said U.S. forces fired roughly 30 Patriot interceptors to defend the base.
The seven KC-135s on the list come from a fleet that was already stretched thin. As of March, the Air Force had 373 KC-135s and 103 KC-46As, the Government Accountability Office said in a June report. GAO found the fleet fell short of the Air Force’s own readiness goals every year from fiscal 2019 through 2025. The Air Force operated only 16 E-3s before the war began, and six had deployed to Prince Sultan.
The CRS report suggests Congress could fund replacement and repairs, seek supply chain assessments, scale back foreign military sales, or consider how the losses reflect changes in the threat environment. A Congressional Budget Office report estimated equipment losses between $1.9 billion and $3.3 billion, depending on replacements, while the inspector general reported equipment losses at $3.7 billion.
Sources: Army Times · Navy Times