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Open Source Iran War Cost Tracker: 45.7B

iranwarcost.com

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Re: Open Source Iran War Cost Tracker: 45.7B

#4

Post by nickff »

I was curious about the (AN/FPS-132) radar, which is a significant cost-driver, and have come away unsure as to whether it was a US-asset (which seems to be what this website is tracking). Qatar seems to have ordered one of these radars, and I can't see any record of the US installing one of its own at the facility in question, but it is not clear (to me) who owns this unit, though it seems most likely to be Qatar. Additionally, the widely-circulated image of the 'destroyed' radar appears to be 'fake', with satellite images showing less-than-catastrophic damage:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fact-check-fake-image-de...

https://www.news18.com/world/iran-destroyed-uss-1-1-billion-...

Re: Open Source Iran War Cost Tracker: 45.7B

#6

Post by koverda »

WalterGR wrote: post #3

Different tracker, but also see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47237080 Iran War Cost Tracker (iran-cost-ticker.com) 312 points | 23 hours ago | 440 comments How does yours compare to that one?

Mine seems to be a bit more focused and comprehensive on the financial expenditures by the US government, and open source. Also iran-cost-ticker.com seems to be "on hold" when i visit it.

Re: Open Source Iran War Cost Tracker: 45.7B

#7

Post by koverda »

nickff wrote: post #4

I was curious about the (AN/FPS-132) radar, which is a significant cost-driver, and have come away unsure as to whether it was a US-asset (which seems to be what this website is tracking). Qatar seems to have ordered one of these radars, and I can't see any record of the US installing one of its own at the facility in question, but it is not clear (to me) who owns this unit, though it seems most likely to be Qatar. A…

Pretty certain from this that it's a US asset: https://www.wpafb.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/111460...

Re: Open Source Iran War Cost Tracker: 45.7B

#8

Post by WalterGR »

koverda wrote: post #6
WalterGR wrote: post #3

Different tracker, but also see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47237080 Iran War Cost Tracker (iran-cost-ticker.com) 312 points | 23 hours ago | 440 comments How does yours compare to that one?

Mine seems to be a bit more focused and comprehensive on the financial expenditures by the US government, and open source. Also iran-cost-ticker.com seems to be "on hold" when i visit it.

> Also iran-cost-ticker.com seems to be "on hold" when i visit it.

That is certainly a difference between the two sites. :) (In my defense, I hadn't visited since yesterday.)

Re: Open Source Iran War Cost Tracker: 45.7B

#9

Post by legitster »

Some problems:

- The Aid package is not immediately spent all at once. It authorizes up to $26 billion, but the CBO estimates it may take all the way into 2033 to claim the money.

- To that end, a lot of these costs are double counted. It's including the bill that authorizes these expenses, and then those expenses all in the same calculation.

More realistically, the $6.5M/day in theater operations for a Carrier Strike Group is probably pretty accurate (In reality, they already cost the US about $30M/day just operate normally). The flyaway costs for the Tomahawk missiles are going to be about $1M each (a lot of price estimates include the R&D costs divided per units).

In reality, the cost of a 60 day war with Iran using current methods at our current loss rates will get you closer to about $8-12B total cost. Which is still a lot more more incrementally accurate.

Re: Open Source Iran War Cost Tracker: 45.7B

#10

Post by nickff »

koverda wrote: post #7
nickff wrote: post #4

I was curious about the (AN/FPS-132) radar, which is a significant cost-driver, and have come away unsure as to whether it was a US-asset (which seems to be what this website is tracking). Qatar seems to have ordered one of these radars, and I can't see any record of the US installing one of its own at the facility in question, but it is not clear (to me) who owns this unit, though it seems most likely to be Qatar. A…

Pretty certain from this that it's a US asset: https://www.wpafb.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/111460...

Thanks for your link! The text seems to indicate the equipment is Qatar-owned: “The foreign military sale agreement, signed Dec. 7, 2016, requested AFLCMC provide the radar itself and associated mission support facilities at a remote location in Qatar.”

For context, in the case of foreign military sales, the US government usually buys the equipment from its suppliers, then resells it to the foreign government.

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