US Aircraft Lost or Damaged in the Iran War

Operation Epic Fury, 28 February to 18 September 2026

TypeDestroyedDamagedNotes and replacement cost
MQ-9A ReaperUp to 47$30m each (CBO, FMS basis); a fully equipped aircraft approaches $50m
MQ-4C Triton1$150m; Navy budget documents put it at $238m
MQ-1 class1Shot down over international waters; CENTCOM did not confirm the variant
KC-135 Stratotanker2Up to 7Out of production; one loss was a mid-air collision, not hostile fire
F-15E Strike Eagle4Roughly 8$0 on paper; four F-15EX would cost $400m
MC-130J Commando II2$300m (CBO); destroyed deliberately on a remote strip inside Iran
MH-6 Little Bird4Part of the $122m CBO booked for five helicopters
HH-60W Jolly Green II1Struck during the rescue and kept flying
A-10C Thunderbolt II11$0 on paper; $120m if replaced with an F-35A
E-3G Sentry (81-0005)1$500m (CBO), the cost of one E-7A Wedgetail
F-35A Lightning II1First F-35 known to have taken hostile fire in combat
UH-60 Black Hawk5One FPV drone strike near Baghdad; four more hit after 10 September
CH-47F Chinook1 reportedIranian state media imagery, not independently verified
AH-64 Apache1Shot down near the Strait of Hormuz in June
$1.9bn — CBO estimate of losses through 1 August, counting only hardware the Pentagon would change its plans to replace.
$3.3bn — CBO estimate if everything lost were replaced with platforms available today. Includes $500m for a destroyed THAAD AN/TPY-2 radar.
Over $4bn — plausible once losses after 1 August and repair costs are added.
Over $38bn — the Pentagon’s conservative running bill for the conflict as a whole.

Sources: Pentagon Lead Inspector General quarterly report on Operation Epic Fury (14 September 2026); Congressional Budget Office letter to the House Budget Committee (15 September 2026); The War Zone and the Military Air Tracking Alliance open-source tally through 18 September 2026. MQ-9A figures reflect open-source counts that run ahead of both official reports.

Afterburner — MiGFlug’s Magazine · migflug.com