US military losses in Iran war near $5bn in first month

The United States has suffered approximately $4.83 billion in military asset losses during the first month of “Operation Epic Fury,” the ongoing conflict with Iran, according to data compiled by Anadolu. The tally includes destroyed aircraft, radar systems, and other critical infrastructure across multiple countries in the region.

Aircraft losses mount

Among the most significant losses was an E-3G Sentry AWACS aircraft, valued at roughly $500 million, destroyed in an Iranian strike on Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Air Base on March 27. Visual evidence confirmed the aircraft was beyond recovery. In the same attack, three KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft—each with a replacement cost of approximately $320 million when adjusted for inflation—were also destroyed. A fourth KC-135 crashed separately in western Iraq, killing all six crew members.

Fifteen MQ-9 Reaper drones have been lost, with a combined value of about $450 million. Other aircraft losses include three F-15E Strike Eagle fighters destroyed in a friendly-fire incident involving Kuwaiti air defenses, an F-35 forced into an emergency landing, and a UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter struck by FPV drones at a former US base in Iraq.

Radar and defense systems heavily damaged

The most expensive losses involved radar components. Four AN/TPY-2 radars belonging to THAAD systems in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia—valued at an estimated $2 billion—were damaged. An AN/FPS-132 early warning radar at Qatar’s Al-Udeid Air Base, worth approximately $1.1 billion, was struck by an Iranian missile on Feb. 28.

Additional losses include an AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel radar in Iraq, two satellite communications terminals at the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, three destroyed radomes at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, and a Saab Giraffe 1X radar system at the US Embassy compound in Baghdad. Together, these losses bring the estimated total for the first month of operations to $4.83 billion.