Questions surround US military's use of missiles abroad

The missing data raises doubts over the true size of the US' involvement in its conflicts abroad and the financial bill being officially presented to the US taxpayer each year.

"We don't track the number of strikes from Apache [helicopters]," one anonymous military source told the Military Times.

"I can tell you, unequivocally, we are not trying to hide the number of strikes. That is just the way it has been tracked in the past. That's what it's always been."

The US military records this data under "close combat attacks" and not airstrikes, because the helicopters are used to support ground forces in contact with the enemy.

Although the official data on airstrikes is publicly announced to the media, no-one from the military has ever admitted that this data is unrepresentative.

There are many discrepancies in the data presented by the US military. US Air Force statistics for 2016 report 23,740 coalition airstrikes, compared with Defence Department figures, listing 17,861 strikes.

Questions also remain unanswered as to whether military officials have knowingly misled Congress, as it is also partial to this official data.