As of April 2026: Iran has destroyed 42 U.S. Military Aircraft in Op: Epic Fury

(nationalsecurityjournal.org)

51 points | by Gaishan 12 hours ago ago

16 comments

  • artbristol 11 hours ago ago

    Misleading headline; if you look at the actual US government source, 42 aircraft were either destroyed or damaged. Most of the actual losses (destroyed aircraft) were 24 MQ-9 Reaper drones.

    • oliwarner 3 hours ago ago

      Each of those drones is $30m (plus munitions). Together with the other losses and damages to aircraft, it moving towards $7b.

      Feels like a considerable loss.

    • DrProtic 11 hours ago ago

      Do you count that AWACS as damaged or destroyed?

    • locknitpicker 10 hours ago ago

      > Misleading headline; if you look at the actual US government source, (...)

      Let's pause a moment to think about this sentence alone.

      • strken 9 hours ago ago

        Vague innuendo doesn't stop the headline from being misleading, since it's based on that same source.

        • locknitpicker 6 hours ago ago

          > Vague innuendo

          There is no innuendo. The only claim in this discussion is trying to cast doubt on semantics such as whether "destroyed" or "damaged" has a meaningful difference.

          In the meantime, let's verify what the US government classifies as "damage".

          https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyd07m7e1xo

          This doesn't even fit the old "the front fell off" skit.

  • King-Aaron 11 hours ago ago

    Its honestly wild how heavy the US disinformation has been around this war. We used to laugh at the Russians acting this way.

    • DrProtic 10 hours ago ago

      Americans go disinformation about all their previous wars, it’s just that they all hate Trump and have social media so they’re able to figure out what’s going on.

      Americans acting like they have moral high ground is the staple of your international image, while in fact being a regular old Empire with everything that comes with it.

      • King-Aaron 10 hours ago ago

        I am not american.

        • DrProtic 10 hours ago ago

          Oh I thought based context, my bad sorry.

  • jaspanglia 12 hours ago ago

    I think if US is not stopping then Iran is doing right for his own country kuddos to Iran

  • bonsai_spool 12 hours ago ago

    "In a stunning security breach that went largely unanswered, unidentified drones swarmed above the skies of America’s bomber base in Louisiana for days in March. Barksdale Air Force Base is home to B-52 bombers and nuclear weapons storage facilities, and command and control assets."

    • londons_explore 11 hours ago ago

      High altitude spy drones are commonly used by lots of countries now.

      They tend not to get shot down, even in enemy territory.

    • hmm37 8 hours ago ago

      Whenever I read about this, it always just sounds like nonsense to me, and probably another American agency simply trying to do some security testing. They said the same thing was happening around NJ a couple of years ago. How many countries can fly drones across the Atlantic, etc., or have some secret aircraft carrier that is so stealthy it can deploy drones without them being detected.

  • locknitpicker 10 hours ago ago

    From the article:

    > In a stunning security breach that went largely unanswered, unidentified drones swarmed above the skies of America’s bomber base in Louisiana for days in March. Barksdale Air Force Base is home to B-52 bombers and nuclear weapons storage facilities, and command and control assets. According to ABC News, the drones arrived in organized waves of 12 to 15 at a time for hours each day for a week. This threat caused troops to shelter in place and the flight line to shut down.

    Wow.

    • readthenotes1 10 hours ago ago

      The more wow part is that you didn't hear about this in March. I did and was surprised at how little reaction it got.