Iranian strikes damaged hundreds of US military buildings, dozens of aircraft

Iranian strikes have damaged hundreds of U.S. military and diplomatic buildings, according to a new report by the Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General.

U.S. Central Command told IG investigators that “Iranian strikes damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan during the conflict.”

While the report provided no details on damaged military facilities, it did include specifics on damage to U.S. diplomatic facilities.

The State Department told investigators that “U.S. diplomatic facilities in four countries suffered physical damage from Iranian strikes, with an estimated total cost of about $184 million.”

U.S. diplomatic sites in Iraq suffered more than 600 attacks, while the embassies in Kuwait City and Riyadh were also hit.

Operation Epic Fury had cost the United States $33.4 billion as of June 29, based on Pentagon estimates. The amount includes $22.3 billion in expended munitions, $3.7 billion in equipment losses and $7.4 billion in costs beyond CENTCOM’s normal operating expenses.

However, these estimates do not count the costs of repairing infrastructure.

The Department of Defense “did not include the cost of military construction for damaged infrastructure in its estimate because the DoD has not determined what its future posture will be in the region, how it will construct its bases, and what percentage of the construction costs allies and partners will contribute,” the report states.

Because Congress did not appropriate funds for the war in Iran, the money is being funneled from normal operating budgets, such as amounts set aside for training and maintenance.

“The absence of a dedicated appropriation for OEF means that it can be difficult to calculate the total ‘cost’ of OEF,” noted the report, which is among the first official assessments of Operation Epic Fury since it began on Feb. 28.

Funding is also becoming an issue for U.S. Transportation Command, which flew more than 1,500 missions to support the mission.

“During peak OEF times, airlift surged to 30 to 40 daily missions directly into the CENTCOM [area of responsibility], with an additional 20 to 30 daily aircraft pushing into the USEUCOM AOR for transload operations,” the report said.

This cost nearly $2.4 billion as of June 30.

“While these obligations have been largely reimbursed by the military services to date, USTRANSCOM reported that it anticipates delayed payments moving forward as service funding is depleted without a supplemental appropriation,” the IG said.

A damaged U.S. aircraft following an Iranian strike on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. (Social media via Reuters)

The report confirmed that dozens of U.S. manned and unmanned aircraft have been destroyed or damaged, based on data from a Congressional Research Service report released in May and “vetted” by CENTCOM as of Aug. 24.

The tally of destroyed aircraft includes four F-15Es, one A-10, four AH-6 helicopters, one AH-64 and one MH-60, as well as an MQ-4C drone and as many as 30 MQ-9 Reapers.

The report listed 18 dead U.S. military personnel as of Aug. 27. The Pentagon claimed 417 wounded as of June 30, though casualty figures released in late August soared to 774.

Michael Peck is a correspondent for Defense News and a columnist for the Center for European Policy Analysis. He holds an M.A. in political science from Rutgers University. Find him at theuncommondefense.com. His email is mikedefense1@gmail.com.

根据美国国防部监察长办公室的一份新报告，伊朗的袭击破坏了数百座美国军事和外交建筑。

美国中央司令部告诉监察长办公室的调查人员，“在冲突期间，伊朗的袭击破坏并摧毁了美国在科威特、巴林、卡塔尔、阿联酋、沙特阿拉伯、伊拉克、阿曼和约旦的基地内的数百栋建筑物和构筑物。”

虽然该报告没有提供受损军事设施的详细信息，但确实包含了美国外交设施受损的具体情况。

美国国务院告诉调查人员，“伊朗的袭击对美国在四个国家的外交设施造成了实际破坏，估计总损失约为 1.84 亿美元。”

美国在伊拉克的外交机构遭受了 600 多起袭击，而美国在科威特城和利雅得的大使馆也遭到袭击。

根据五角大楼的估计，截至6月29日，“史诗狂怒行动”已耗费美国334亿美元。该金额包括223亿美元的弹药消耗、37亿美元的装备损失以及超出中央司令部正常运营开支的74亿美元费用。

然而，这些估算并未包括基础设施维修费用。

报告指出，国防部“没有将受损基础设施的军事建设成本纳入其估算，因为国防部尚未确定其在该地区的未来态势、基地建设方式以及盟友和伙伴将承担多少建设成本”。

由于国会没有为伊朗战争拨款，这笔钱是从正常的运营预算中挪用的，例如用于训练和维护的款项。

报告指出，“由于没有专门为‘持久自由行动’拨款，因此很难计算‘持久自由行动’的总‘成本’。”该报告是自2月28日“持久自由行动”开始以来，首批官方评估报告之一。

资金问题也逐渐成为美国运输司令部面临的难题，该司令部已执行了 1500 多次飞行任务来支持这项任务。

报告称：“在持久自由行动高峰期，空运任务激增至每天 30 至 40 架次，直接进入中央司令部责任区，另有每天 20 至 30 架次飞机进入美国欧洲司令部责任区进行转运作业。”

截至6月30日，这项工程耗资近24亿美元。

监察长表示：“虽然迄今为止，这些债务已基本由各军种偿还，但美国运输司令部报告称，由于军费开支耗尽且没有追加拨款，预计未来付款将会延迟。”

一架美国飞机在伊朗袭击沙特阿拉伯苏丹王子空军基地后受损。（社交媒体/路透社）

该报告证实，根据国会研究服务处 5 月份发布的一份报告的数据，以及中央司令部 8 月 24 日“核实”的数据，数十架美国有人驾驶和无人驾驶飞机已被摧毁或损坏。

被摧毁的飞机包括四架 F-15E、一架 A-10、四架 AH-6 直升机、一架 AH-64 和一架 MH-60，以及一架 MQ-4C 无人机和多达 30 架 MQ-9 死神无人机。

报告显示，截至 8 月 27 日，已有 18 名美军人员死亡。五角大楼声称，截至 6 月 30 日，已有 417 人受伤，但 8 月下旬公布的伤亡数字飙升至 774 人。

迈克尔·佩克是《防务新闻》的通讯员，也是欧洲政策分析中心的专栏作家。他拥有罗格斯大学政治学硕士学位。您可以在theuncommondefense.com找到他。他的邮箱是mikedefense1@gmail.com。