The U.S. military lost 34 aircraft and sustained damage to eight more during Operation Epic Fury, according to a Congressional Research Service report that for the first time provides a government accounting of the full scale of American aerial attrition in the war.

The report identifies 42 manned and unmanned airframes hit during the conflict, with unmanned platforms accounting for 25 of the 34 destroyed. The Pentagon has not released its own comprehensive assessment of combat losses, and the CRS document cautions that the figures “may remain subject to revision due to multiple factors, which may include classification, ongoing combat activity and attribution.”

The single largest category of losses is the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, the medium-altitude long-endurance drone that has anchored U.S. surveillance and strike operations for nearly two decades. 24 were destroyed, more than half the total reported. The Reaper losses alone have driven the Air Force’s active inventory of the drone down to roughly 135 aircraft, well below its long-standing minimum operational floor of 189, the deputy chief of staff for plans and programs told the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Airland last week.

The CRS document lists four F-15E Strike Eagles destroyed and one F-35A Lightning II damaged by Iranian ground fire, the first combat damage to the fifth-generation stealth fighter in its operational history. Two KC-135 Stratotanker aerial-refueling jets were destroyed and five more damaged, the heaviest combined toll among manned platforms with seven airframes hit. Also destroyed: two MC-130J Commando II special operations transports, one A-10 Thunderbolt II, and one Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton high-altitude maritime surveillance drone. One E-3 Sentry AWACS and one HH-60W Jolly Green II combat rescue helicopter were damaged, the helicopter by small-arms fire during a rescue operation of a downed US airman.

A significant share of the manned-aircraft losses are concentrated around a single early-April incident. After Iranian air defenses shot down an F-15E Strike Eagle over Iranian territory on April 3, the United States mounted a large-scale combat search-and-rescue operation to recover its two airmen. President Trump told reporters the mission involved 68 fighters, 48 aerial tankers, 13 rescue aircraft and four bombers. During the operation, the two MC-130J transports became mired in soft sand inside Iran and were deliberately destroyed by U.S. commandos to prevent capture. An A-10 was shot down the same day, with the pilot ejecting and being recovered. Iranian state media has published imagery of the MC-130J wreckage that appears to show at least one Boeing M/AH-6 Little Bird helicopter among the debris; the CRS report does not address the rotorcraft.

A separate March 12 incident over friendly airspace destroyed one KC-135 in a crash in Iraq that killed all six aircrew. The second tanker involved made an emergency landing. The MQ-4C Triton, a $250 million Navy reconnaissance drone, fell from 52,000 feet to 9,500 feet in 15 minutes after a loss of communication and crashed into the Persian Gulf in what the CRS describes as a mishap rather than an enemy engagement.

The F-35A damage incident, first reported on March 19, marks the first combat damage to the platform anywhere in the world. Iranian state media circulated footage purporting to show an F-35 being struck by an unidentified anti-aircraft munition during operations over Iran. The aircraft was reportedly flown to an emergency landing rather than lost. The F-35A is the cornerstone of the U.S. and allied force structures across Europe, the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East, and the incident has drawn intense scrutiny from partner nations expanding their fleets.

Replacement costs will reach into the billions. The CRS report, paired with current Air Force procurement budgets, suggests a total replacement bill in excess of $4 billion, with some defense-industry analyses placing the figure as high as $7 billion when support equipment and training are included.

Each Reaper now carries an estimated cost of $56 million in 2021 dollars or as much as $150 million for a current-configuration airframe with a full sensor package, according to U.S. Naval Air Systems Command and Air Force figures. General Atomics shuttered the MQ-9A production line in 2025 after the Air Force ceased new orders, and the company says parts remain on hand for only about five new airframes.

The combat losses have accelerated an Air Force effort to field a cheaper, more attritable successor; Brig. Gen. Trey Niemi, the program executive officer, signed off on a formal requirements document for the next-generation platform on May 11.

The four F-15E losses are similarly difficult to replace. The aircraft is out of production, with the Air Force budgeting roughly $125 million per F-15EX replacement, suggesting a $500 million replacement bill for the F-15E component alone. The A-10 has been out of production since 1984. The KC-135 fleet, also out of production, would be replaced by KC-46As at roughly $260 million per airframe, putting the tanker replacement cost at approximately $1.8 billion.

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