At least 81 United States 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 earlier this year. The statistic comes as part of a report released on Monday by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a nonpartisan government agency that provides budget-related research to the legislature. It estimated that, as of August 1, the cost of the American aircraft losses during the US-Israeli war against Iran was between $1.9bn and $3.3bn.
The report this week highlights the growing price tag for the war, which began on February 28. A lasting ceasefire has remained out of reach as the conflict continues into its eighth month. He told Al Jazeera that Iran has managed to achieve a degree of success in damaging US military hardware and bases in the Middle East.
We have seen examples of that in the Gulf countries during the conflict,” Ullman explained. Monday’s report listed 12 F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets, one F-35A Lightning II jet and seven KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refuelling aircraft among those affected. Forty-five of the 81 aircraft identified in the report were MQ-9 Reaper drones.
Experts like Ullman trace some of the US vulnerabilities to the changing nature of modern warfare, which is increasingly reliant on low-cost drones that are widely available. Many have pointed to Russia’s war against Ukraine as an example of how a smaller military like Kyiv’s can keep a larger adversary at bay through drone warfare. Rumours of a potential drone attack on Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford — a British base that has hosted US assets during the Iran war — also resulted in the sudden departure of a dozen US aircraft on Sunday.
Ullman pointed to those instances as examples of how the threat of drone attacks has been effective in putting larger militaries on the defensive. The rising costs associated with the war against Iran have also placed political pressure on the administration of US President Donald Trump. Earlier this year, his administration requested a record $1.5 trillion in defence spending for fiscal year 2027, citing the demands of the war.
But the soaring price tag has sparked scepticism in Congress, particularly from Democrats. Last month, 45 Senate Democrats and one independent wrote an open letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demanding transparent accounting of the war’s costs. They argued that a “detailed breakdown” of the costs was necessary before Congress considers further supplemental funding.
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