“Billions of dollars of highly sophisticated military equipment has been lost or significantly damaged since the U.S. and Israel began striking thousands of targets across Iran more than three weeks ago. The bulk of the damage on the ground has been caused by Iranian ballistic missiles and drones.
Battle damage and replacement of losses over the first three weeks of the war likely costs roughly $1.4 billion to $2.9 billion, according to Elaine McCusker, a top Pentagon budget official during the first Trump administration who has been tracking the cost of the conflict for the American Enterprise Institute. The higher estimate includes damage to a Qatari radar housed on a U.S. air base in the country.
Here are some of the weapons and platforms that the Pentagon would likely look to replace in the $200 billion Iran supplemental-spending request it has sent to the White House.
F-15E Strike Eagle
Multirole fighter
In operation: 1989
Range: 2,400 miles
Speed: 1,875 mph
Crew: 2
A Kuwaiti F/A-18 Hornet jet fighter mistakenly shot down three American F-15E Strike Eagles on March 1 -- all six crew members safely ejected. A new-model F-15 today costs about $100 million.
F-35A Lightning II
Multirole fighter
In operation: 2016
Range: More than 1,350 miles
Speed: About 1,200 mph
Crew: 1
A U.S. F-35A Lightning II stealth fighter made an emergency landing on March 19, and its pilot was in stable condition. Iran claims to have shot at the aircraft. An F-35A costs about $82.5 million.
KC-135 Stratotanker
Aerial tanker
In operation: 1957
Range: 11,015 miles*
Speed: 530 mph
Crew: 3
*Less if it offloads fuel to other aircraft
Six crew members of an Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueler were killed when their plane crashed after colliding with another KC-135 over Iraq March 12. Five more KC-135s were damaged during an Iranian missile strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. The damaged aircraft are being repaired.
Boeing hasn't built KC-135s since the 1960s, so the Air Force will most likely replace the lost plane with a KC-46 Pegasus, a tanker based on a modified 767 airliner. A KC-46 costs about $165 million.
MQ-9 Reaper drone
Remotely piloted aircraft
In operation: 2007
Range: 1,150 miles
Speed: 230 mph
Crew: 2 (remote: pilot and sensor operator)
More than a dozen MQ-9 Reaper drones have been lost since the war began. This includes at least eight shot down by Iranian missiles, three on the ground destroyed by Iranian missiles and one mistakenly shot down by a Persian Gulf nation. Additional Reapers have been damaged. The MQ-9s flown by the Air Force, which cost at least $16 million each, are no longer manufactured by General Atomics. The newer-model MQ-9B SkyGuardian drones are being manufactured for the U.S. and its allies, costing around $30 million each.
USS Gerald R. Ford
Aircraft carrier
In operation: 2017
Range: Nearly unlimited
Speed: About 35 mph
Crew: About 4,550
While not damaged in combat, a fire broke out on the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford on March 12. The fire began in the main laundry space and spread to other parts of the ship, including sailors' sleeping quarters. The carrier is now in port at Souda Bay in Greece where it will undergo repairs.
AN/TPY-2
Missile defense radar
In operation: 2006
Range: 540-1,860 miles
Frequency: X-band
Iran struck an AN/TPY-2 radar that is part of the Thaad missile defense battery in Jordan. The radar, which is used to track ballistic missiles, costs at least $300 million.
AN/FPS-132
Early warning radar
In operation: Mid-2000s
Range: 3,000 miles
Frequency: UHF-band
Iran has also attacked radar, communications and air defense systems in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, including damage of the Qatari AN/FPS-132 early-warning radar at Al-Udeid Air Base. The radar, which can track several targets simultaneously, costs about $1 billion.
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Note: Diagrams not to scale
Graphics sources: Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, MissileThreat/Center for Strategic and International Studies (AN/TPY-2); Missile Defense Agency (AN/FPS-132); Air Force (KC-135, F-15E, F-35A, MQ-9 Reaper); U.S. Navy (USS Gerald R. Ford); U.S. Congress (Thaad)
(See accompanying graphics -- WSJ March 27, 2026)” [1]
1. World News: U.S. Losing Valuable Military Assets. Weisgerber, Marcus; Ruiz, Roque. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 27 Mar 2026: A6.
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