Five Air Force Refueling Planes Hit in Iranian Strike on Saudi Arabia

[riversedge]

Source: WSJ


9 hours ago


By Lara Seligman and Shelby Holliday

Five U.S. Air Force refueling planes were struck and damaged on the ground at Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia, according to two U.S. officials.

The tankers were hit during an Iranian missile strike on the Saudi base in recent days, the officials said. U.S. Central Command declined to comment. The tankers were damaged but not fully destroyed and are being repaired, one of the officials said. No one was killed in the strikes.

The news brings the total number of Air Force refueling planes damaged or destroyed to at least seven. It comes after two Air Force KC-135 refueling planes collided on Thursday, leading one of the aircraft to crash into the ground. All six crew members were killed, the Pentagon announced on Friday.

Iran has been targeting U.S. troops and military equipment at bases across the region in retaliation for Operation Epic Fury. ................



Read more: https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/us-israel-iran-war-news-2026/card/five-air-force-refueling-planes-hit-in-iranian-strike-on-saudi-arabia-wHYFMW2YG3p0rwH3HaGU?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqf4mAynWWuXB-Z2DtO8fZRaYSygva4ejQTE1PpRhhvG_CEWHcOC8xrOVD6l5g%3D%3D&gaa_ts=69b5227a&gaa_sig=XQNb7j4nwhNWaWoTSPO_LFKn1xgA4c-LZDS8wfEhmtbpdp24trM7Y8vmLVBAWzJyBXb7902KdknNpezbd8uKbQ%3D%3D

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"Five U.S. Air Force refueling planes ​were struck and ‌damaged on the ground at Prince Sultan ​air base in ​Saudi Arabia, the Wall ⁠Street Journal reported ​on Friday, citing two ​U.S. officials." (
@reuters.com
)
www.reuters.com/world/five-u...

"Five U.S. Air Force refueling planes ​were struck and ‌damaged on the ground at Prince Sultan ​air base in ​Saudi Arabia, the Wall ⁠Street Journal reported ​on Friday, citing two ​U.S. officials." ( @reuters.com )
www.reuters.com/world/five-u...

— Panzergraf (@panzergraf.bsky.social) 2026-03-14T00:21:31.162Z

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Planes in our fleet are sitting ducks at those ME bases

We're fucked.

ETA - This adds on to that complete loss of a fueling plane (with a loss of 6 lives) and the damage of another fueling plane that was part of an apparent collision incident with the lost plane, so that means there are now 7 refueling planes that are OUT OF SERVICE.

[Botany]

2. And where is Iran getting the information about US Military assets?

Russian satellites can give real time information about U.S. military operations and assets also I am
sure some of the top secret documents that Trump stole in 2021 and the information that Russia got
from Hegseth’s phone when he was in Moscow in 2025 are being provided to the Iranians.

Trump should be in the Super Max Federal Prison in Colorado right now but the Republicans and the
Powers That Be are protecting him. See Judge Cannon.

[UpInArms]

3. That picture with putin

Are they both wearing the same shoes?

[Orrex]

4. Also, Putin is 5'7"

There's no way that the heap of pig shit beside him is 6'3".

[Bengus81]

11. Even with the elevator lifts he wears

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. Putin's fit

Donny would be dead if he gave him oversized shoes.

[3Hotdogs]

8. Trump gives Florshines to people he likes. ALL of the Cabinet members were given Florshines and

don't dare not wear then in his presence.

Fuck. John D. Rockefeller only gave out dimes to everyone he met.

[blue-wave]

7. Gee, maybe if we give Daddy Putin all of Ukraine

Iran won't hurt us anymore.

When is congress gonna grow a spine, stand up and say enough is enough?

[AverageOldGuy]

10. Is Putin wearing . . .

. . . Florsheims?

[iluvtennis]

6. My heart goes out to the six crew members who lost their lives in the collision. Their deaths are on that

idiot trump as there was no need for him to start this war with Iran.

GET US OUT OF IRAN trumpty dumpty.

[rubbersole]

9. Putin probably told donnie to move all of the defensive assets of our military into the Gulf war arena.

That way he could pick them off one-by-one with $20K drones.
(Imagine Biden or Obama taking a secret one hour phone call from the country's most dangerous adversary.)

[paleotn]

12. KC-135's are key to Trump's air campaign.

The Air Force isn't going to run out of them anytime soon. But until additional tankers are flown in, this limits combat options when refueling capacity is reduced even for a short time.

Iran has it's own space agency and relatively small fleet of satellites. Safe to assume they've got military surveillance satellites. Targeting a Saudi air base could be from their own capabilities or they might have gotten help. Hard to say. What it does show is they're still in this fight and Whisky Pete is a moron. But we already knew that last part.

I wonder if the Shitler regime is thinking another unthinkable. Destroying Iranian space assets in orbit. Certain orbits are crowded as it is. Could this leaded to a Kessler incident? If so, we'll long for the days when gas prices were the only impact we felt from this debacle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome
https://newspaceeconomy.ca/2025/02/18/the-kessler-syndrome-and-its-impact-on-space-warfare/

[LeftInTX]

15. We have quite a few refuelers. I saw about 20 take off from Tel Aviv on Feb 28th

I was watching flight radar as soon as I heard that we were bombing Iran. There was a bunch of them.

[paleotn]

16. 160+. How many are available for service and not in maintenance, etc. is less. But still a lot.

It does take time to get replacements into theater. Then again, US assets aren't unlimited. An increase somewhere means a draw down somewhere else.

[Prairie Gates]

13. So lemme get this straight: The Iranians successfully target and hit 5 KC-135s

at around the same time that two other KC-135s accidentally have a midair collision, causing one to crash, killing its entire crew. In a mid-air collision, mind you, that seems very odd - since they obviously weren't refueling each other - and that nobody from the DoD has bothered to explain in any way.

This all happened in a 24-hour timespan.

Mama, I was born kinda recently, I guess, but it wasn't fucking yesterday.

[InstantGratification]

14. It isn't at all obvious that one wasn't refueling the other

The USAF does that on long flights. I went on a deployment aboard a KC-10 tanker back in the 80s. We had 4 F-16 flying with us that refueled from our tanker about every hour and a half during a 13 hour flight. Our tanker was itself refueled 3 times by other tankers staged along our route. I got to see our fighters refueled from the boom operators position, I regret not getting to sit in the cockpit jump seat and watch while we refueled. That would have been tense to watch two large aircraft that close together.

I'm not saying that this was what happened but it can't be ruled out. We will find out more as the investigation proceeds.

[Prairie Gates]

18. "We will find out more as the investigation proceeds."

Oh, an optimist!

[Bluetus]

21. Very possible. But I would have thoughts these tankers were both based in the area

The scenario you describe is typical when a squadron is flying an intercontinental route on a mission, and they want to use the same tanker the whole distance. I would have thought all the aircraft in this case would have taken off from bases in the area, so I don't see why a tanker would need to be re-tanked itself.

But that would certainly explain why the two tankers were operating so close to one another.

[turbinetree]

17. So lets put this in perspective......... this country has around 380 -600 tankers we have now lost around 9.............

there are about 100 in the middle east......................so that leaves around 90 in service....................affordability there traitor and your buddy that has a identity and a vanity problem running your war with a business suit on a flag BS in his coat pocket............who is paying .................so far families of the dead and wounded and the taxpayers while you jaunt down to cereal house to play golf..............in fucking Florida........and then he is ranting that the media is reporting about this.................... hey shit for brains ..............we have a right to know dumb shit........did your kid .............Barron volunteer........bet not...................

[COL Mustard]

19. Aw, hell. We needed new planes anyway.

The ashtrays were getting full on those ones.

Besides, a few hundred million here, a few hundred million there, what's the prob?

[Bluetus]

20. "Iran has been targeting U.S. troops and military equipment at bases across the region "

Meanwhile, we are leveling girls' schools and exploding ordnance in the heavy population centers exposing millions of people to toxic chemicals.

[Maninacan]

22. Recovering

The planes are recovering and will soon be back on duty.