⚡️🇺🇸🇮🇷 — Congressional Research Service Report Details U.S. Military Aircraft Losses and Damages in Iran War, — CNN.

​➡️ A Congressional Research Service report released this week states that the United States military has had 81 aircraft destroyed or damaged in the war with Iran. The total includes airplanes, helicopters, and drones, with the MQ-9 Reaper drone—utilized for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, close air support, and combat search and rescue—accounting for more than half of the losses. High-value Pentagon assets listed include an F-35A fighter jet and an E-3 Sentry, a four-engine target-tracking and airspace management jet featuring a large radar dome.

​➡️ The CBO estimates the replacement cost of the lost aircraft to be between $1.9 billion and $3.3 billion, depending on Defense Department replacement plans, while sources inform CNN that the total cost of the war reaches at least $45 billion, excluding regional base infrastructure damage. Certain aircraft within the count may have returned to service, including eight F-15 Strike Eagle fighter jets experiencing light damage from an Iranian strike in September at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. The report's findings stem from Defense Department statements, its inspector general, US Central Command, and news reports reviewed by the CRS.

​➡️ The report raises critical oversight questions for Congress regarding whether lawmakers receive sufficient information from the Pentagon to determine effects and remedies, given that Defense Department reporting has been vague and its inspector general's September report cited previous CRS figures. Additional concerns involve funding availability for repairs and replacements, industrial capacity limits, impacts on foreign military sales, and potential capability gaps or increased risks in other theaters due to losses in high-demand, aging platforms like the E-3 Sentry. Furthermore, operations against Iran and Houthi rebels have severely strained MQ-9 drones, with 45 lost in the Middle East this year at what an Atlantic Council report terms an "alarming rate," contributing to an overall Air Force loss of roughly 35% of its MQ-9s since 2004.

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