US military assets worth billions damaged or lost in Iran war: Report

WASHINGTON

Billions of dollars in US military equipment have been damaged or destroyed since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran, mostly due to Iranian missile and drone attacks, according to a Wall Street Journal report published on Friday.

Losses in the first three weeks of the conflict are estimated at $1.4 billion to $2.9 billion, Elaine McCusker, a former Pentagon budget official now at the American Enterprise Institute, told the newspaper.

Among the incidents cited, three F-15E fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by a Kuwaiti aircraft on March 1, while an F-35 stealth jet made an emergency landing on March 16 after reportedly coming under fire. Iran claims it targeted the aircraft, according to the report.

A midair collision between two KC-135 refueling planes over Iraq also killed six crew members. Five more KC-135s were damaged in an Iranian missile strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia and are undergoing repairs.

More than a dozen MQ-9 Reaper drones have been lost, including several shot down by missiles and others destroyed on the ground. Iranian strikes also damaged aircraft and radar systems at US bases in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan.

A fire broke out on the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford on March 12; the ship is now undergoing repairs at Souda Bay, Greece, according to the US Navy.

The Pentagon plans to replace some of the damaged systems through a proposed $200 billion supplemental spending request.

Anadolu could not independently verify the reported losses.

Regional tensions escalated after Feb. 28, when the US and Israel launched a joint offensive on Iran, killing more than 1,340 people. Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel and Gulf countries hosting US military assets.

So far, 13 US service members have been killed and roughly 290 others injured since the operations began.