The Air Force wants to replace at least some of the aircraft it has lost during Operation Epic Fury against Iran through a supplemental budget request to Congress, Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach said April 30.
The Chief’s comments are the first public statement that the service will seek to replenish its fleet beyond its annual procurements. Wilsbach did not specify how many aircraft the USAF would seek through the supplemental, and some of the aircraft lost have no obvious replacement available, as the types are no longer in production.
Since the air campaign against Iran launched Feb. 27, the Air Force has lost at least nine manned aircraft and roughly two dozen or so unmanned systems. Other aircraft have been damaged, but the extent of that damage and whether those airframes can be repaired is unclear.
Losses or major damage confirmed by Pentagon officials or by sources to Air & Space Forces Magazine include:
- Four F-15Es, three in a friendly fire incident over Kuwait, one shot down over Iran
- Two MC-130 special operations refueling and mobility aircraft destroyed by U.S. forces during the rescue operation for the F-15E crew
- One E-3 AWACS, hit on the ground at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia
- One A-10, hit over Iran during the F-15E rescue, leading the pilot to eject over friendly airspace
- At least one KC-135 that crashed after a midair collision with another tanker over Iraq
- Around two dozen MQ-9 drones
During a House Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) asked Wilsbach how those aircraft losses are affecting Air Force plans.
“We hope to be able to address this in a supplemental for the aircraft that we’ve lost,” Wilsbach replied. “And the procurement going forward is meant to increase the number of tails we have, especially in the fighter force, but it will also include bombers and tankers as well. So both the supplemental and the ’27 budget is supposed to address those losses.”
Talk of a supplemental funding request to cover the cost of the Iran conflict has swirled for weeks now. Early reports indicated the White House would seek $200 billion, but that figure later declined to somewhere between $50-100 billion. On April 29, acting Pentagon comptroller Jules “Jay” Hurst III told lawmakers the cost of Epic Fury to date has been $25 billion, a figure he said included munitions, operations and maintenance, and “equipment replacement.” In a subsequent April 30 hearing, Hurst did not clarify if the cost estimate specifically includes aircraft losses.
Hurst also said April 29 that a supplemental funding request is coming, but that it will depend on final cost estimates that are not yet complete. The 2027 budget, meanwhile, was largely crafted before the Iran war began and did not take it into account.
When it comes to replacing aircraft, the Air Force has a few options it could add to a supplemental; the F-15EX is already replacing the F-15E and the KC-46 is replacing the KC-135. The service is already seeking to buy 24 F-15EXs and 15 KC-46s in its 2027 budget.
Other aircraft, however, could be trickier. The last MC-130J finished production in January 2025, though the C-130J on which it is based remains in production. The E-3’s planned replacement, the E-7 Wedgetail, is still in development and its long-term future is uncertain. And the MQ-9A Reaper finished production in recent years, though other variants are still being produced.
The Air Force wants to retire most of its A-10 fleet in the next few years, and it’s unclear if the service will cut one airframe from its divestment plan to account for the lost aircraft.
Pentagon Editor Chris Gordon contributed reporting.