Here Are The 42 Aircraft The Pentagon Has Lost In Iran, According To Congress, Since The Pentagon Won't Say

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"Since the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes against Iran on February 28, Americans have paid an extra $40 billion in gas money, 12,000 flights were canceled in the first five days of May, and carmakers are absorbing enormous losses. Of course, the American military has been suffering more serious losses in base infrastructure, equipment, and, tragically, lives lost. That said, the Pentagon has been a bit cagey with actually laying out exactly what's been lost. That could be due to operational security concerns around a war and its shaky ceasefire; it might also be a way to minimize the perception of their costs."

"Now, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) has published its own report focused on aircraft losses specifically. Pulling from a variety of sources, since the Pentagon wouldn't just tell it, the CRS determined that a grand total of 42 U.S. military planes have been either damaged or destroyed during the conflict with Iran. That includes fixed wing, helicopters, and high-end drones. Several dozen aircraft downed in only a few weeks, particularly against a non-peer adversary, is a pretty steep price."

"Several of these were strike aircraft, including one F-35A Lightning II and four F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets, plus one A-10 Thunderbolt II attacker. Others were support aircraft, including a whopping seven KC-135 Stratotankers (the military's flying gas stations), plus one E-3 Sentry AWACS, a vitally important radar plane that doesn't have a clear replacement after its imminent retirement. America also lost two MC-130J Commando II planes dedicated for ferrying special operations forces."

"On the helicopter side, the report only notes one loss, an HH-60W Jolly Green II search-and-rescue craft. On the UAV side, the Navy lost one MQ-4C Triton reconnaissance drone. Taking the heaviest beating of all was the MQ-9 Reaper, the military's ubiquitous bomber drone, with fully 24 losses."

Continued at link:

https://www.jalopnik.com/2178240/42-aircraft-pentagon-lost-in-iran/

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1. Outlays

The military might be afraid that we won’t approve large outlays on a failing war.