Americas...:$8.3 Million/Day for US Air War in Iraq, Syria: ...

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The Pentagon has revised its estimate of the cost of the US air war in Iraq and Syria, saying that approximately $8.3 million a day is the price tag for the campaign in Iraq and Syria against so-called "Daesh" ["ISIL"].

$8.3 Million/Day for US Air War in Iraq, Syria

Since air strikes began on August 8, the campaign -- which has involved about 6,600 sorties by US and allied aircraft -- has cost $580 million, said US Pentagon spokesman Commander Bill Urban.

The US War Department had previously put the average daily cost of the military operation at more than $7 million a day.

The higher figure reflected the increased pace of air strikes and related flights, a war official said, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Yet, independent analysts say the War Department is underestimating the genuine cost of the war effort, which began in mid-June with the deployment of hundreds of US troops to Iraq.

Some former budget officials and outside experts estimate the cost of the war has already exceeded a billion dollars, and that it could rise to several billion dollars in a year's time.

Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments projected the war could cost $2.4 to $3.8 billion a year, in an analysis issued on September 29.
If the intensity of the bombing raids is expanded, the air war could cost as much as $4.2 to $6.8 billion per year, according to Harrison's report.

One of the biggest drains on the budget for the air war is the large number of surveillance and reconnaissance flights that bombing raids require, analysts say.

The US-led campaign, dubbed so-called "Operation Inherent Resolve," has seen thousands of spy flights and aerial refueling runs.
Moreover, the cost of flying the spy planes range from about $1,000 an hour for Predator and Reaper drones to $7,000 an hour for high-altitude Global Hawk drones, or as much as $22,000 per hour for E-8 J-STAR [Joint Surveillance Target Radar Attack System] aircraft.

Funds for the air war are coming out of the Pentagon's de facto war budget, the Overseas Contingency Operations fund.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team