Pentagon watchdog warns Iran war exposed US ammunition shortfalls
A Pentagon inspector-general report puts the estimated cost of Operation Epic Fury at US$33.4 billion, including US$22.3 billion in expended munitions.
The United States military is facing strategic ammunition shortfalls and industrial bottlenecks that are slowing efforts to rebuild its stockpiles after the Iran war, according to a Pentagon inspector-general report.
The report said Operation Epic Fury incurred an estimated cost of US$33.4 billion between 28 February and 30 June. Expended munitions accounted for US$22.3 billion of that total.
It also recorded four F-15s destroyed, one F-35 and seven KC-135 tanker aircraft damaged, and up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones destroyed. The figure for the drones is an upper estimate.
The findings challenge President Donald Trump’s repeated assurances that US ammunition supplies are “virtually unlimited”. Trump has also said the United States is producing more advanced weapons than at any time in its history.
CNN previously reported shortages of long-range guided missiles and air-defence interceptors, including an assessment that nearly 80 per cent of the US stock of THAAD interceptors had been used. The United States said it struck more than 1,000 targets during the first 24 hours of the conflict.
The Pentagon report said Iranian strikes damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at US bases across Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan. The costs of that damage were excluded from the estimate because it remains unclear whether all the bases will be rebuilt or who will pay.
