According to The Independent, Jules Hurst III, the Pentagon’s chief financial officer, said in mid-May that the US war against Iran has cost approximately $29 billion (604 billion crowns) so far, which is $4 billion (83 billion crowns) more than at the end of April due to repair and replacement costs as well as “general operating costs to keep people in the operational space.”
The Pentagon is reluctant to share a detailed breakdown of costs, but the latest figures show an average expenditure of $386.67 million (eight billion crowns) per day. This is a significant decrease from the two billion dollars (41.6 billion crowns) a day that the Pentagon allegedly spent in March.
However, analysts see it a little differently. Linda Bilmesová, an associate professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, the world’s leading school of public policy and administration at Harvard University in Cambridge, USA, claims that the costs reported by the Pentagon are only the tip of the iceberg.
“The Pentagon systematically underestimated the cost when it talked about 29 billion dollars (604 billion crowns), because it bases that number on the historical costs of ammunition. The real costs are much higher,” said Bilmesová.
According to her, the value of one Tomahawk missile, which the US army has in stock, can be around two million dollars (41.6 million crowns), but a new one today would cost up to 3.5 million dollars (72.9 million crowns). The most common missiles for the Patriot system can be purchased for around two million dollars (41.6 million crowns) each, but the newer models, which are also increasingly used by the US military, cost around five million dollars (104 million crowns) each.
To this, it is also necessary to add the cost of replacing 42 aircraft of the US Air Force, which were destroyed or damaged during the operation against Iran. To give an idea: a fully equipped F-15 Eagle fighter (and one such fighter was shot down during the operation) will cost approximately 117 million dollars (roughly 2.4 billion crowns).
Care for veterans must also be included in the costs
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimated that from February 28, the first US-Israeli strike on Iran, until the ceasefire on April 9, the United States used more than a thousand Tomahawk missiles and up to 1,430 Patriot missiles. According to Bilmesová, the costs based on the Pentagon’s estimate with updated prices could triple.
“To this, it is necessary to add approximately another 300 million dollars (roughly 6.25 billion crowns) for repairs of damaged military buildings and facilities such as embassies throughout the region where the conflict is taking place,” added the analyst.
In the long term, the US will also struggle with benefits for veterans or disability pensions. It will also cost “something” to speed up the delivery of new weapons and ammunition, which the army desperately needs in this situation.
If you add up the “costs of arms and ammunition, long-term costs of caring for veterans, social benefits”, repayment of all the loans the state took out because of this war, you will very quickly reach an amount of around a trillion dollars, said Bilmesová. “In principle, it is not possible for it to cost less,” she concluded.
Photo: Boeing
F-15 Eagle
