An Iranian strike damaged nine U.S. military aircraft this week at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, including one A-10 Thunderbolt II and eight F-15s, according to a U.S. official cited by Defense News.
The official, who spoke anonymously, said the A-10 was left with a missing wing. The official described the damage to roughly eight F-15s as light and said the aircraft were returned to service. The account did not identify the specific F-15 variants.
The aircraft damage was reported after U.S. forces used about 30 Patriot interceptors during the Iranian attack to counter incoming missiles, the official said. The reported expenditure adds a missile-defense element to an attack that also damaged American aircraft. The official did not provide a breakdown of the missiles intercepted or additional details about damage to the air base.
The strike came after U.S. forces said they had destroyed five Iranian crude-oil carriers. The U.S. said those strikes were carried out in response to two ballistic-missile attacks by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps against a U.S. Navy warship over the preceding two days. The reported events placed the attack on Muwaffaq Salti alongside military actions involving the Navy, oil carriers and missile defense.
A May report from the Congressional Research Service, cited in the account, said 42 U.S. military aircraft had already been lost or damaged in the conflict before the Jordan attack. The report described that total as including aircraft affected in different ways, while the Defense News account separately said that more than two dozen drones had been destroyed and that some aircraft had been lost in accidents. The 42-aircraft figure was not presented as a count limited to Iranian strikes.
The aircraft damage at Muwaffaq Salti is separate from the broader account of U.S. equipment affected since the conflict began in February. The same account said 18 U.S. service members had been killed and more than 800 injured since then. It also cited an estimate from the Center for Strategic and International Studies that about 65% of U.S. Patriot interceptors had been expended between February and July. The estimate put the number remaining below 850, compared with 2,330 before the conflict began. Specific inventory figures are classified.
The latest incident therefore involves two reported categories of U.S. military materiel: aircraft damaged at the Jordanian base and Patriot interceptors used against the incoming missiles. The official’s account identified one A-10 with a missing wing and roughly eight F-15s with light damage. It said the F-15s were returned to service, but it provided no timetable for the A-10 or details about its future status.
The report also did not provide a damage assessment for other structures or equipment at Muwaffaq Salti. Its account of the aircraft focused on the nine U.S. planes damaged during the Iranian strike, while the broader figures covered aircraft and other military equipment affected at earlier points in the conflict.