An updated congressional report counts 81 U.S. military aircraft lost or damaged in the Iran war, nearly double May’s figure, as costs climb and key platforms run thin.
The Congressional Research Service’s Oct. 5 revision lists 81 American military aircraft lost or damaged since the United States launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran on Feb. 28. That figure is nearly double the 42 aircraft CRS counted in May, according to Military Times reporting on the update.
The total is not a pure destruction count. CRS works from public information, Defense Department and Central Command statements, news accounts, and a Pentagon inspector general report. Some jets took combat damage and later flew again. Others crashed, fell to friendly fire, or were deliberately destroyed so sensitive gear would not be left behind.
CRS itself cautioned that the numbers can still move.
"may remain subject to revision due to multiple factors, which may include classification, ongoing combat activity, and attribution."
The agency also noted that some damaged aircraft may have returned to active service. Even so, the revised list underscores how fast high-demand planes, tankers, and drones have been chewed up in a fight that is still producing fresh damage reports, including from Iranian strikes on bases in Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
That operational picture sits alongside other public signals about how the Pentagon labels and manages the campaign, including earlier guidance covered when the Pentagon addressed the Operation Epic Fury name after saying the operation had ended.
Fighters, tankers, and a thin AWACS bench take heavy hits
Twelve F-15E Strike Eagles appear on the CRS list. Seven KC-135 tankers are listed as well. One E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control aircraft was damaged in an Iranian strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, a “direct hit,” in the phrasing CRS cited from September reporting. One F-35A took Iranian ground fire over Iran on March 19, made an emergency landing at a U.S. base in the region, and left its pilot in stable condition, Central Command spokesman Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins said.
Fox News reported that CRS flagged the aging and limited E-3 fleet as a concrete example of how losses among high-demand aircraft could open capability gaps or raise risks for U.S. forces in other theaters. Before the war, the Air Force E-3 fleet numbered 16; six had deployed to Prince Sultan.
Fifteen aircraft on the CRS list were damaged on the ground in Iranian strikes on two air bases. Mid-March Iranian missiles hit Prince Sultan and damaged five KC-135s. Iran struck the base again on March 27 and damaged the E-3. On Sept. 8-9, ballistic missiles hit Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. One A-10 lost a wing. Eight F-15Es took light damage and returned to service. Roughly 30 Patriot interceptors were fired in the base’s defense, a U.S. official told Reuters.
A separate June Government Accountability Office report put Air Force KC-135 inventory at 373 aircraft as of March, with 103 newer KC-46As. That tanker fleet fell short of Air Force readiness goals every year from fiscal 2019 through 2025. Losing seven tankers from an already strained pool is not a paperwork problem. It is a limit on how far and how often American jets can fight.
Reaper losses pile up while the buy line stays shut
Drones dominate the raw count. Three U.S. officials said in mid-August the military had lost “at least 45” MQ-9 Reapers, up from as many as 30 destroyed through June 30 in the inspector general’s accounting. A separate Sept. 23 CRS product said the Air Force had 135 MQ-9As as of May, down from 351 in fiscal 2022. The service stopped buying Reapers, and its fiscal 2027 request included no money for new ones.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach has called the Reaper perhaps “the most valuable player” of Operation Epic Fury. Burning through dozens of the most useful drone in the fight, then leaving the replacement line cold, is a readiness choice with a bill attached.
The New York Post reported the aircraft losses totaling as much as $3.3 billion and noted Central Command’s broader war-cost estimate of $43.6 billion, while also flagging the Reaper inventory drop below the required 189 aircraft. CRS and budget scorekeepers have been tracking the same squeeze from different angles.
Three MQ-1-family drones were also downed by Iran, one confirmed by Central Command in May and at least two more reported by U.S. officials in September. A Navy MQ-4C Triton surveillance drone crashed April 9 at an undisclosed location; Naval Safety Command data gave no cause.
Those attrition numbers land in a wider debate over how America builds and fields the next wave of systems, a theme also visible as Hegseth works with outside technologists on next-generation warfare concepts.
Combat search, friendly fire, and aircraft destroyed on purpose
Not every loss came from Iranian missiles. On March 1-2, a Kuwaiti F/A-18 mistakenly shot down three U.S. F-15s over Kuwait. All six aircrew ejected and were recovered. Central Command has described the episode as friendly fire.
In April, U.S. forces ran a high-risk recovery for the two-person crew of an F-15E shot down over Iran. Both airmen were rescued in separate search-and-rescue and special operations efforts. Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Dan Caine said an A-10 Thunderbolt II supporting the rescue took enemy fire, that the pilot flew the damaged jet out of Iran and ejected over friendly territory, and that an HH-60W Jolly Green II was damaged by small-arms fire. At an April 6 news conference, Caine described two helicopters in a rescue flight taking fire, with a crew member on the trailing aircraft suffering a minor injury.
Two MC-130J Commando II transports suffered mechanical failure during those operations. U.S. forces destroyed the two transports and four AH-6 Little Bird helicopters rather than leave sensitive equipment. The inspector general’s Sept. 14 report captured the Little Bird destructions; the May CRS version had listed none.
On June 8, an Army AH-64 Apache was shot down over the Strait of Hormuz. The two-person crew was rescued by a Navy drone boat, a first of its kind, U.S. officials said.
Aviation risk is not confined to combat theaters alone, as readers have seen in separate coverage of Navy aviators ejecting after an arresting-gear failure on a carrier deck. Mechanical failure and human cost travel together whether the threat is enemy fire or equipment stress.
Americans killed and missing as the bill comes due
The deadliest single aircraft loss was a KC-135 crash on March 12 in western Iraq. All six crew members were killed. A second KC-135 in the same friendly-airspace episode made an emergency landing at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel. Central Command said the loss was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.
On July 1, an MH-60S Sea Hawk from the USS George H.W. Bush made an emergency landing in the Arabian Sea. The Navy said there was no indication of hostile action. Three of four crew members were recovered. Cmdr. Gabriel Edwards, commanding officer of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 5, was lost. The Navy suspended the search on July 5 after more than 102 hours. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao directed that Edwards be posthumously promoted to captain.
In a separate July missile attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, three Army soldiers were killed. Those deaths are not aircraft losses, but they are part of the same base-defense fight that later saw the September ballistic missile strike damage jets on the ramp.
Protecting bases, aircraft, and the people who fly them also means guarding against insider threats and foreign intelligence collection, a concern underscored when the FBI posted a reward in an Air Force espionage case tied to Iran.
War costs climb while emergency funding sits idle
Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst told House appropriators on May 12 the cost was closer to $29 billion. A September Congressional Budget Office estimate put Pentagon war costs at about $38 billion through Aug. 1. CBO pegged battle-lost equipment replacement at $1.9 billion, or up to $3.3 billion if emergency funding covered full replacement. That estimate included a THAAD missile-defense radar Iran destroyed. CBO said it relied on government databases and public reports because the Defense Department did not respond to its requests.
In June, the White House asked Congress for $87.6 billion in emergency funding, including $67.1 billion for the Pentagon. Congress has not approved the request. Aircraft are being lost and damaged in public view. The replacement money is not.
CRS is plain about the limits of its own ledger. Some airframes on the damaged list may already be back in the fight.
"Some damaged aircraft may have been returned to active service."
That caveat does not erase the pattern. Hard-to-replace tankers, fighters, an AWACS jet, and a Reaper fleet already cut by more than half since fiscal 2022 are carrying the load. Iranian strikes have hit aircraft on the ground at partner bases. Friendly fire and accidents have added to the toll. Search-and-rescue missions have forced American crews to destroy their own transports and helicopters to keep technology out of enemy hands.
Bomber movements and base security remain live concerns as well, including the recent decision that saw the U.S. return a bomber fleet from RAF Fairford after a suspected Iran-linked plot. Airpower is finite. So is the industrial capacity to put lost jets and drones back on the ramp.
Iran made American aircrews and maintainers pay in blood and hardware. A Congress that leaves emergency replacement funding unresolved asks those same forces to keep flying the gap.
