How much military hardware have we lost in Iraq?

[catmandu57]

I've been looking, but can't even find a ballpark figure. I'm talking helicopters, bradleys, tanks, etc...
I know there have been many humvees and trucks taken out, plus bradleys. There have been a couple of tanks, and I don't know how many helicopters, anyone have a site that details this?
I'm curious about the cost in equipment alone.

[Spinzonner]

1. Try and think of it as full employment for the military-industrial complex

[htuttle]

2. As a rough guide, here's a couple of anecdotes I remember reading

After the first week of fighting in Afghanistan, they had to rotate just about the entire helicopter fleet out due to damage caused by small arms fire, RPG near misses, etc...

I heard that they've been having to replace the tracks on the tanks once every few weeks -- the normal schedule is more like once a year or more.

I think I've seen pictures of at least four burned out convoys of flatbed trucks loaded with now burned out Bradleys.

Robert Fisk says that miles and miles of the roads around Bagdhad are littered with burned out trucks and other US military vehicles.

So if I take those descriptions and extrapolate -- I'd say the US has lost billions of dollars of equipment (maybe tens of billions). That stuff is very expensive (thanks to our lame procurement systems).

[Yogi]

3. perhaps it sounds selfish,

after all the men and women and equipment that's been lost congress couldn't extend unemployment benefits to those out of work.