Special to WorldTribune.com

The Iraqi military abandoned more that 100 vehicles and weapons systems as it fled Ramadi, including several U.S.-origin platforms.

Keeping the military vehicles out of Islamic State of Iraq and Levant’s (ISIL’s) hands is vital, Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said.

Related: 

• Tanks, copters and cash: Bank robberies in Mosul make ISIL ‘wealthiest terrorist franchise ever’, June 24, 2014
• U.S. now confirms ISIL stole and has deployed surface-to-air missiles, Oct. 31, 2014]

Warren said it was “certainly preferable if [the abandoned tanks and vehicles] had been destroyed, in this case they were not. Warren added that if ISIL did obtain the equipment “we will destroy enemy vehicles as we see them,” according to a report by the Washington Examiner.

The cost of the U.S. weapons systems is a concern.

U.S. M-1 Abrams tanks cost over $4 million each while the 250 mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles the U.S. gifted Iraq this year run at least $600,000 apiece. Stryker vehicles can range from $1 million to about $3 million.

The U.S. has also struggled to bring Iraqi trainees up to speed in the maintenance of the equipment. A number of the vehicles that were left behind in Ramadi had not been moved for months, according to the report.

  Iraqis again abandon major U.S. weapons platforms fleeing Ramadi, WorldTribune.com