At least 81 US military aircraft, including fighter jets and drones, have been lost or damaged during Operation Epic Fury, Washington’s military campaign against Iran, according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report released on Monday.The CBO, a nonpartisan agency that provides budget research to Congress, estimated the cost of the losses at between $1.9bn and $3.3bn as of August 1.
The affected aircraft include 12 F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets, one F-35A Lightning II jet and seven KC-135 Stratotanker refuelling aircraft. Forty-five of the 81 were MQ-9 Reaper drones.The war, a US-Israeli campaign against Iran, began on February 28 and is now in its eighth month. A lasting ceasefire remains out of reach.
Harlan Ullman, a former naval officer and chairman of the Killowen Group, said small countries can still damage the world’s best militaries. He told Al Jazeera that Iran has had some success hitting US hardware and bases in the Middle East, adding that drones have shown what they can do against major assets in the Gulf.
