By Mary McCue Bell (The Washington Times)
The war in Iran has left 81 U.S. aircraft lost or damaged, which would cost $5.1 billion at full replacement prices, according to a Washington Times calculation using federal unit costs for 73 of them.
The Congressional Research Service’s Monday update lists 81 aircraft, up from 42 in its May version, tallying aircraft “reportedly” lost or damaged, drawn partly from news articles.
In a Sept. 15 report, the Congressional Budget Office estimated the cost of equipment losses as of Aug. 1 at between $1.9 billion and $3.3 billion, depending on the Defense Department’s plans for replacements.
The same report found that the war had cost $38 billion through Aug. 1 and will continue to rise by $2 billion to $3 billion per month, depending on the conflict’s intensity.
The CRS’ Oct. 5 update doesn’t put its own dollar figure on the losses, but pricing the aircraft it lists at the CBO’s per-unit costs translates to $5.1 billion.
The calculation excludes three MQ-1 multirole uncrewed aircraft, one MH-60 Seahawk anti-submarine helicopter and four AH-6 helicopters because CBO lists no unit cost for them.
The $5.1 billion is well above the CBO’s $3.3 billion high-end estimate because the CRS lists more aircraft than the CBO’s table, which runs through Aug. 1: eight more F-15Es, one more A-10, five more KC-135s and 21 more MQ-9s, all priced at the CBO’s unit costs.
The $5.1 billion counts damaged aircraft at full replacement cost. Dropping the eight F-15Es that news reports cited by the CRS say returned to service lowers the total to $4.34 billion.
One aircraft, an E-3 Sentry airborne early warning-and-control aircraft built on a Boeing 707-320 airliner, was damaged in what one report cited by the CRS called “a direct hit.” Replacing it with an E-7 could cost about $500 million, according to the CBO.
The lead inspector general’s Sept. 14 report to Congress, which covers April 1 to June 30, cites a Defense Department comptroller estimate of $3.7 billion in equipment losses since the war began.
That price tag covers all equipment, not just aircraft, and excludes infrastructure repairs.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, estimates the war’s costs through Sept. 3 at $43.6 billion, including projected munitions replacement but not repairs to damaged U.S. bases.
That includes $4.3 billion for replacing equipment losses, according to figures CENTCOM provided to Congress.
The Times’ $5.1 billion figure for aircraft alone is higher, in part because it counts damaged aircraft at full replacement cost.
This article was made available to WMAL via The Washington Times.
