Stars and Stripes reports that “the U.S. military is spending as much as $10 million per day on its new air war against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, a relative pittance compared with the hundreds of millions it spent fighting every day in Afghanistan in 2013.”  

“The costs in Iraq and Syria will escalate substantially if, as President Obama and Pentagon officials have said, the new war lasts for years, according to military analysts. Flying and maintaining warplanes requires a substantial investment in weaponry and personnel.”  

“‘If airstrikes in Syria and Iraq continue for as long as the president predicts, they will eventually cost tens of billions of dollars,’ predicts Loren Thompson, a defense industry consultant and the military analyst at the Lexington Institute. ‘The price of munitions is just one part of the bill. Thousands of personnel are engaged in sustaining aircraft, flying drones and operating warships in the region.'”