U.S. Libya cost hits $550 million

By: Times-Dispatch Staff | Times-Dispatch
Published: March 30, 2011

WASHINGTON --

The military intervention in Libya has cost the U.S. Defense Department $550 million so far, mostly for bombs and missiles, officials said Tuesday.

The figure is not a full picture of the price for the operation in that it does not include money such as pay for sailors, airmen and others who would have been deployed somewhere in the world anyway, officials said.

It is the first official figure released on the cost of setting up the no-fly zone in North Africa and protecting civilians from strongman Moammar Gadhafi as he resists a movement to oust him.

Of the $550 million in spending through Monday, about 60 percent was "for munitions; the remaining costs are for higher operating tempo" of U.S. forces and of getting them there, Cmdr. Kathleen Kesler, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said Tuesday.

As of Monday, the 10th day of the intervention, the United States had launched 192 long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles from naval positions in the Mediterranean Sea at a cost of $1 million to $1.5 million each. The United States also had flown 983 sorties, 370 of those air missions against military sites and forces and the rest for surveillance, refueling and so on.

In a bid to undermine Gadhafi, international military forces are scattering leaflets across the countryside and invading the nation's airwaves with anti-Gadhafi messages to his troops.

The messages: Refuse to obey Gadhafi's orders. Stop fighting. Go home to your families.

A senior defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said eavesdropping indicates that Gadhafi's forces are aware of the messages.

The United States has broadcast messages to Libyan forces from the Air Force's EC-130 Commando Solo, a modified Hercules transport that conducts information and psychological operations.