President Donald Trump has reignited the Iran conflict with a series of missile strikes. U.S. intelligence officials now predict that the Pentagon’s total military costs for this war could surpass $100 billion, according to sources with direct knowledge of the estimates.
As of late May, the total cost of Operation Epic Fury has been tracked in the range of $50 billion to $100 billion, consistent with prior confidential estimates from Congress, which approximated the cost at about $80 billion.
The Trump administration has yet to disclose comprehensive cost estimates for the Iran war. In June, the White House requested $88 billion to cover some of the war’s financial burdens, although officials consider this an understatement.
One factor delaying public disclosure of the final costs is the Pentagon’s ongoing evaluation regarding whether to replace all aircraft that were either destroyed or damaged beyond repair during the conflict, according to officials.
If the Pentagon opts not to replace a specific aircraft, defense officials have informed lawmakers that they won’t seek funding for it, thus excluding it from the total war cost calculations.
Upon reviewing a detailed breakdown of the report, a Department of the Army official stated: inner loop: “We have nothing further to announce at this time.”
The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has noted in a May 20th report that the U.S. has lost at least 17 manned aircraft and 25 unmanned aircraft since the conflict began.
Furthermore, the CRS report indicates an increasing loss of drones, making replacements expensive. Notably, one of the 25 drones lost was an MQ-4C Triton, a Navy high-altitude surveillance aircraft, with an estimated replacement cost of over $600 million for each unit.
The costs associated with repairing U.S. military bases in the region are also significant, especially in areas that endured heavy damage from Iran’s retaliatory missiles and one-way attack drones.
Defense officials have privately informed lawmakers that renovation costs may not be included if the U.S. ultimately decides to close a base due to its vulnerability to Iranian attacks.
Iran has repeatedly succeeded in targeting key locations across the Middle East in retaliation. For instance, the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters has not publicly reported any naval support operations in Bahrain.
The only real cost estimate made public by a senior defense official, Jay Hurst, the Pentagon’s acting comptroller, indicated that the war’s costs have risen to approximately $29 billion.
Mr. Hurst did not provide updated figures during his nomination hearing but mentioned that the $29 billion primarily covers military supplies and expenses such as fuel for the two U.S. aircraft carriers operating in the Middle East.
Operation “Gold Eagle” Initiated
The Trump administration has launched a new initiative to identify and resolve software vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by malicious actors using advanced AI models.
Government officials disclosed that this new initiative, named Gold Eagle, will be overseen by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which will utilize AI models that are not publicly available to identify vulnerabilities.
This marks the first major implementation of President Trump’s executive order issued on June 2, aimed at creating a framework to tackle the growing threat posed by advanced AI technologies.
Source: www.wired.com