Official figures released on US losses in Iran
- Aviation Features
- Official figures released on US losses in Iran
29th October 2026
Feature
Screen grab from a video showing wreckage of one of two United States Air Force MQ-9A Reapers shot down over Iran on July 18 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC
TWO NEWLY published US Government reports on Operation Epic Fury (OEF) have revealed official figures for the first time on US losses of aviation assets during the war with Iran. The US Department of War’s Lead Inspector General (IG) released its first quarterly report to Congress on OEF on September 14, including details of US aircraft casualties from the beginning of the war with Iran on February 28, 2026, through to June 30. A rundown of these losses appears in the table below. A more detailed report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) was released on the following day, September 15, including an overview of aircraft losses through to August 1 and the estimated replacement cost in 2026 dollars. It also covered costs incurred during combat operations against Iran. The CBO report notes that the US DoD has lost equipment in battle that it probably wishes to replace – most significantly, a THAAD radar destroyed by Iran. DoD also lost aircraft that it probably wishes to replace. CBO estimates that the cost of equipment lost in battle – that DoD would have to change its plans to replace – amounts to $1.9bn. The approach that DoD would take to replace that equipment is uncertain. Some aircraft (such as the F-15E, A-10, KC-135 or E-3) are no longer in production, but their replacements (the F-15EX, F-35A, KC-46 and E-7, respectively) are already included in DoD’s regular budget, so no supplemental appropriations would be necessary. For example, the Air Force lost four F-15E Strike Eagles during Operation Epic Fury (three of them due to friendly fire), but CBO attributed no financial cost to those losses because the F-15E is slated to be replaced by the F-15EX in upcoming years. The battle losses simply changed the order in which specific F-15Es would be retired. If DoD sought supplemental appropriations for all its battle losses, however, the total cost of such losses could increase to $3.3bn instead of the $1.9bn that CBO estimates. In June, the Administration requested $87.6bn in supplemental funding for Operation Epic Fury and some other purposes.
This included $2.4bn for drones, with by far the largest losses in Iran being the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper fleet. According to the Lead IG, ‘as many as 30’ MQ-9A Reaper drones were destroyed in ‘various circumstances,’ while the CBO booked 24 Reapers at a unit cost of $30m (based on the Foreign Military Sales programme), which totals $720m to $900m in lost equipment. The cost of a fully kitted-out Reaper can approach $50m, depending on the sensors, weapons and other mission equipment it carries. The Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen Kenneth Wilsbach, told the House Armed Services Committee in May that the Reaper was the war’s “most valuable player”. As of May, the Air Force admitted on record that the Reaper fleet had been reduced to 135 airframes, down from an official total of 165 at the start of fiscal year 2026. The estimates of Reaper losses are thought to err on the conservative side, as a report in the Washington Post on August 11 claimed that at least 45 Reapers had been lost. This equates to 25% of the total fleet. Since that report, at least three more have been shot down. The table of aircraft losses below only includes those that were destroyed. As we have reported previously, various others have been damaged during Iranian attacks. These include a CH-47F Chinook badly damaged on the ground at Camp Buehring in Kuwait, an A-10C damaged on the ground in Jordan, about eight F-15Es damaged in a ballistic missile attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. Up to seven KC-135 tankers were also damaged but are being repaired, in addition to the two that were destroyed.
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