US Assets Losses Hover Around USD5B After Iranian Strikes
The most significant blow came on March 27, when an E-3G “Sentry” Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft—valued at roughly $500 million—was destroyed at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. The aircraft was struck during an Iranian attack, and subsequent visual evidence confirmed it was beyond repair.
In a separate incident, a KC-135 Stratotanker went down in western Iraq during an operation on Thursday, killing all six personnel on board. The same strike that destroyed the AWACS also wiped out three additional KC-135 aircraft. Though originally introduced in the late 1950s, each tanker’s replacement cost is now estimated at about $320 million when adjusted for inflation.
Unmanned aerial systems have also taken a heavy toll. US officials speaking to CBS News confirmed that 12 MQ-9 Reaper drones had been shot down. Open-source intelligence reports indicated three additional losses, bringing the total to 15 drones. With a unit cost of roughly $30 million, total losses from the drones are estimated at about $450 million.
Earlier, on March 24, first-person view (FPV) drones targeted the former US base Camp Victory in Iraq, destroying a UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter valued at around $20 million.
Air combat losses have compounded the damage. On the second day of strikes, three F-15E Strike Eagle jets were destroyed in a friendly-fire incident involving Kuwaiti air defenses. All six crew members survived, but the aircraft were lost, with replacement costs estimated at $282 million. In another incident, an F-35 stealth fighter jet was struck and forced into an emergency landing, with an estimated replacement value of $100 million.
Critical radar systems hit
Some of the costliest damage involved advanced radar infrastructure. Multiple AN/TPY-2 radar components tied to THAAD missile defense systems in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia sustained damage, with total estimated losses reaching $2 billion. Satellite imagery reviewed by various outlets showed four of these radar systems were hit, though the full extent of the damage remains uncertain.
A US AN/FPS-132 early warning radar stationed at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar—valued at approximately $1.1 billion—was also struck by an Iranian missile during retaliatory strikes that began on Feb. 28. Qatari officials confirmed the system was damaged.
In Iraq, the same FPV drone strike that destroyed the Black Hawk helicopter also eliminated an AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel radar, estimated to be worth $5 million.
Iranian strikes extended to naval infrastructure as well. The US Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama, Bahrain, was hit, resulting in the destruction of two satellite communications terminals and several large structures.
Open-source intelligence reports identified the targeted communication terminals as AN/GSC-52B systems, with estimated losses of about $20 million including deployment and installation costs.
Satellite imagery analyzed by The New York Times revealed additional damage at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, where three radomes were destroyed—adding roughly $30 million to the tally.
On March 14, an Iranian drone struck a US Saab Giraffe 1X radar system located within the US Embassy compound in Baghdad. The radar, which supported Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortar and Counter Unmanned Aerial System operations within a 75-kilometer range, is valued at approximately $2 million.
Altogether, these incidents push the estimated value of destroyed US military assets during the first month of operations to around $4.83 billion, based on calculations compiled by a news agency.
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