Billions and counting: mounting cost of US attacks
The widening US airstrikes against Islamic State jihadists in Syria and Iraq will cost more than the 2011 Libya conflict, and the price could rise to just under $1 billion a month, experts said on Thursday.
The Pentagon estimated in August that the operation in Iraq could cost an average of about $7.5 million per day, but US defense officials acknowledged that this was a low estimate that came before US President Barack Obama ordered a broader campaign extending into Syria.
Taking into account the expansion of operations in Syria, with its wear and tear on high-tech hardware and the cost of even a small troop contingent in the region, some budget analysts and former officials say the war's annual cost could rise to more than $10 billion.
"I think you're talking double-digit billions, not single-digit billions," said Jim Haslik, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
On the first night of airstrikes against IS in Syria this week, the United States launched 47 Tomahawk cruise missiles from ships at sea and deployed sophisticated F-22 Raptor fighter jets.
Each missile costs about $1.5 million, and the F-22s cost roughly $68,000 per hour to fly.
AFP
(China Daily 09/27/2014 page12)
