# MilitarySpend

## License: RSL-1.0

> Independent research and live trackers covering US and global military spending, war costs, and defense industry economics. We publish real-time counters, in-depth research briefings, and primary-source-backed analysis aimed at helping journalists, researchers, and the public make sense of defense budgets.

> Usage: Content may be cited and quoted with attribution to MilitarySpend.org and a link back to the source page. Please do not republish full articles or trackers verbatim without permission.

> dateUpdated: 2026-04-21

## Key pages
- [Home — Real-time US Military Spending Counter](https://militaryspend.org/): live per-second counter of US military spending, anchored to the current-year DoD topline.
- [US-Iran War Cost Tracker (Operation Epic Fury)](https://militaryspend.org/us-iran-war): running-total cost estimate for Operation Epic Fury, derived from CSIS, Pentagon, and Penn Wharton figures. Phased model: ~$1.88B/day Days 1–6, ~$500M/day sustained operations, ~$175M/day ceasefire standby.
- [Iran War Casualties Tracker](https://militaryspend.org/iran-war-casualties): US, Iran, Lebanon, and civilian casualty ranges with source attribution and confidence flags. US KIA 41–48, Iran military KIA 1,800–3,400 (disputed), plus equipment losses totaling ~$3.6B in US attrition per CSIS.
- [Iran Ceasefire Status](https://militaryspend.org/iran-ceasefire-status): live status of the Pakistan-brokered April 8, 2026 US-Iran ceasefire — days holding, violations logged, strikes since, and status-changing events with impact classification.
- [Strait of Hormuz Closure Tracker](https://militaryspend.org/strait-of-hormuz): economic, energy, and shipping impact model for a Strait of Hormuz closure scenario.
- [Research](https://militaryspend.org/research): in-depth research briefings on defense budgets, industry, and war costs.
- [Methodology](https://militaryspend.org/methodology): how we source figures, compute estimates, and handle uncertainty.
- [Sources](https://militaryspend.org/sources): primary-source bibliography (DoD, CBO, CSIS, SIPRI, NATO, Brown Costs of War).
- [About](https://militaryspend.org/about): author, editorial standards, and corrections policy.

## Research highlights
- [Operation Epic Fury — Full Cost Analysis](https://militaryspend.org/research/operation-epic-fury-us-iran-war-cost)
- [The $250 Billion Private Military Industry](https://militaryspend.org/research/private-military-contractors-spending)
- [Why Military Spending Keeps Rising in 2025](https://militaryspend.org/research/why-military-spending-rising-2025)
- [USA vs China Military Spending](https://militaryspend.org/research/usa-china-military-spending-comparison)
- [NATO Military Spending: Who Meets the 2% GDP Target?](https://militaryspend.org/research/nato-2-percent-military-spending)

## Optional
- [Full sitemap](https://militaryspend.org/sitemap.xml)
- [RSS feed](https://militaryspend.org/rss.xml)
- [Iran war data snapshot (JSON)](https://militaryspend.org/data/iran-war-snapshot.json)