Posted on 03/29/2026 9:57:23 AM PDT by Miami Rebel
A pivotal U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.
The attack injured more than 10 service members, two seriously. Among the other planes damaged are aerial refueling tankers.
U.S. Central Command has declined to comment on the incident.
Air & Space Forces Magazine has reviewed an image that shows significant damage to an E-3 at Prince Sultan Air Base. The image appears to show one of the E-3s stationed at the Saudi base, based on runway signage and aircraft markings. If confirmed, the extent of the damage to the aging aircraft likely renders it unrepairable.
Six E-3s had been stationed at Prince Sultan Air Base before the incident, according to open-source flight tracking data. Air & Space Forces Magazine previously reported that a USAF E-3 and tankers were damaged in the March 27 Iranian attack.
The AWACS has a storied history and has helped manage the battlefield in major conflicts. The Air Force has flown AWACS planes since the late 1970s to provide command and control and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. They have been used extensively in Operation Desert Storm, the Kosovo war, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the counter-Islamic State campaign known as Operation Inherent Resolve.
But the E-3 is aging, and its capabilities are falling behind those of some major adversaries. The Air Force’s E-3 fleet has dwindled down to 16 as the service retires less-capable planes. In fiscal 2024, E-3s had a mission-capable rate of about 56 percent, meaning a little more than half were able to fly and carry out their missions at any given time.
Losing one of its increasingly rare AWACS—especially one that was apparently being actively used in current operations—could hamper the Air Force’s ability to manage battlefields, airpower experts said.
“The loss of this E-3 is incredibly problematic, given how crucial these battle managers are to everything from airspace deconfliction, aircraft deconfliction, targeting, and providing other lethal effects that the entire force needs for the battle space,” said Heather Penney, a former F-16 pilot and director of studies and research at AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
Experts said losing this E-3 could create gaps in the Air Force’s battlespace awareness and management, and could lead to missed opportunities to target Iranian forces.
“It’s a significant loss for the war in the short term,” said Kelly Grieco, a defense policy expert and senior fellow at the Stimson Center. “That has a consequence. There are going to be coverage gaps.”
Fighter pilots especially rely on the battlespace picture provided by the AWACS, added Penney.
“The value of the E-3 and the battle managers is they see the big picture,” Penney said. “They’re the chessmaster, while [fighter pilots] are the bishops.”
A U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry taxis on the flight line at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, March 1, 2020. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech Sgt. Michael Charles CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said March 25 that Iranian missile and drone launches were down by more than 90 percent since the start of the conflict on Feb. 28.
But Iran remains capable of launching missiles, as this episode shows, and continues to attack key U.S. bases and targets across the region, even with diminishing assets. It has appeared to focus on radar sites and other targets, such as tankers and AWACS aircraft, that could impact America’s ability to project airpower.
Prince Sultan Air Base is an important U.S. military hub in the Middle East and hosts an array of aircraft supporting operations against Iran.
“It’s certainly not random,” Grieco said. Iran, by attacking radars, communications sites, aircraft, and bases, appears to be attempting to conduct an “asymmetric counter air campaign,” she added.
“It seems like it is a deliberate campaign to go after the critical enablers of U.S. airpower,” Grieco said.
Experts said the loss of this AWACS will stretch the handful of remaining E-3s even further, and could lead to shortfalls in the Air Force’s battle management coverage in the Middle East. The U.S. will also face a dwindling and stressed E-3 fleet after the conflict.
Pentagon leadership has expressed skepticism about acquiring the proposed replacement for the E-3, the E-7 Wedgetail, and voiced support for relying more on space-based systems instead.
“We’ve simply taken too much risk in the battle management career field, both with the battle managers and with the airframes,” Penney said. “Space will be an incredible capability, but it is not here today. And this is an example of how we don’t always get to pick the timelines of conflict, so we can’t wait for future capabilities that are not in the force today.
“The E-7 is desperately needed to replace the E-3, and the strain that the loss of this E-3 will impose upon not just the career field, but the capabilities, the battle managers, and how that then ripples across the effectiveness in the entire force, underscores the need to accelerate the procurement and delivery of the E-7,” Penney continued.
Over 300 service members have been wounded so far in Operation Epic Fury, according to U.S. officials. Thirteen service members have been killed, including a Soldier at Prince Sultan Air Base during a previous attack on the base in early March. The U.S. has also had roughly 20 aircraft damaged during the air war.
Three F-15E Strike Eagles were shot down by a Kuwaiti fighter in a friendly fire incident March 2, Air & Space Forces Magazine previously reported. All crew members were recovered safely. On March 12, a KC-135 Stratotanker crashed in western Iraq, killing all six Airmen aboard. Another KC-135 had its tail severely damaged in the same incident but landed safely. In a March 14 social media post, President Donald Trump appeared to confirm that at least one KC-135 was damaged on the ground by an Iranian strike on Saudi Arabia. At least a dozen MQ-9 Reaper drones have been lost in the conflict, and some of the losses occurred while the aircraft were on the ground during Iranian missile attacks. A USAF F-35 Lightning II was damaged over Iran on March 19.
Losing this E-3 will place an even greater burden on the remaining AWACS, Penney said, and potentially burn them out faster.
“It further strains the force, and because we have not invested in battle management aircraft for decades, we’re reaping what we sowed,” Penney said.
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Those planes cost close to $1 billion each.
Fake news. We won like three weeks ago.
Like say, a battery of those 5-inch, phased-array radar naval guns like the Limeys used to swat those Dassault fighters down in the Falklands war. Mount it on a flatbed deuceandahalf and just fly them in on a C-17.
It would work, I know it would.
Wow... They’re making it sound like America has lost the war to Iran.
1 plane out of 6.... So that leaves 5... I have a feeling they will fill any gaps left by loss of this one plane.
Who are the dumbasses running Iran?
I would wait until we have confirmation from a credible reporting source on this one. The pictures I have seen look AI generated/
E-3 plane count is not the issue.
The issue is why are they there, and the answer is because Iran smacked the various ground based radar facilities around the gulf. Those planes were forced to be there.
Iran’s satellite recon network is not bad. That was accurate shooting.
“Key E-3 AWACS Damaged in Iranian Attack on Saudi Air Base”
Not a problem, we’ll just SPEED UP the production line to replace the ‘damaged’ E3.
In this day and age of satellites and Space Force I’ll wager these aging planes aren’t as important as the article makes them out to be.
Wut? I thought the war was over two weeks ago as Trump stated? I am waiting for Iran’s announce announcement that they have surrendered unconditionally as Trump demanded.
Operation Pandora’s Box has had a few surprises.
They are expensive. They aren't needed in large numbers.
Nonsense! These aircraft serve ELINT purposes that satellites can’t serve.
It looks like they successfully decentralized their command. Broke different task forces each into into their own cells. Each charged with operational responsibilities to be initiated after the inevitable decapitation strike they figured (deservedly) would come.
They didn’t really need it, but the go sign came when the numbers station started transmitting. It didn’t matter what it was sending out. Just the fact that it was on the air meant Go.
That is, if I was writing a fiction novel I’d try that idea.
Sounds more plausible than my theory. I was thinking it was Ubama.
What, they couldn’t see the missiles and drones coming, and couldn’t get these aircraft off the tarmac?
I had to read about the true extent of the “mil damage” in the Daily Mail.
Probably because the E3 costs nearly $500 million.
Iran's benchmark for success, “We're still breathing.”
Iran: https://youtu.be/ZmInkxbvlCs?si=8QSHBvBqdEUBbNTx
But you make a good point, we need to take this further. If you let Iran stand with the means to rebuild, the threat will return.
I think we should continue the air campaign until Iran is rendered a total cripple.
Destroy them by wiping out their means to generate revenue: oil refineries, pipelines, wells, storage. This will take years to rebuild and starve them of the economic means.
Realize, while we are playing Mr. Nice Guy, that is exactly what Iran is trying to do: https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/nation-world/attack-on-iran/iran-strikes-at-multiple-gulf-refineries/507-3f8fcfa3-0602-4c92-a8a3-4fc4790807a4
(Next, and this will take MONTHS - very target rich)
Take out their infrastructure: airfields (crater runways), target all aircraft (fixed and rotary wing). Go after barges, train engines, bridges, river ferries, tunnels, water locks, train stations, seaports by taking out container cranes etc. and all ships docked in Iranian waters regardless of flag. Destroy power generation, transformer stations, key transmission lines. Destroy water desalination plants, dams (588 of them), towers (they also use these) and purification plants. Take out key communications nodes. Finally, target grain silos, major irrigation facilities, key industry (capital equipment intense sites), major agra equipment (like combines, etc.), mining entry sites.
I know I know, how horrible it is what I propose. What do you think Iran is trying to do when they shoot missiles and drones into Israel? What are the Houti’s targeting when they shoot Iranian missiles into Israel? Do you really think Iran limits itself to military targets? LOL
This is a situation where we want to be civilized and play nice, while we face off with an enemy that is about as savage as they come. Shy of directly targeting population centers, we should bomb Iran to the point where they are a cripple, and cripples don't pose much of a threat.
You reach a point where if you degrade them enough, the systems begin to fold and amplify each other's failure.
Either they submit in a meaningful (verifiable way) regards their nuclear program, or you bomb them to the point where they no longer matter.
They cease to exist as a viable nation threat at that point especially if you sponsor groups inside Iran that attempt to overthrow this regime like the MEK, or the Kurds up Northwest (all draining the regimes resources). Flood them with counterfeit currency. Blast them with radio and TV messages. Conduct massive cyber operations on them. keep their military frozen (if they move or communicate, they get bombed) as you sponsor opposition groups. You can't take away the terror threat, even Afghanistan poses such: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_and_state-sponsored_terrorism But you can take them down to a point where they lack the ability to pose a threat as a somewhat industrialized and tech-based society, where they can't pose a threat through force projection with missiles, drones, Quds forces operating in Iraq and Yemen, backing Hezbollah with missiles and drones...
But sure, even then they might be able to launch a drone here or there and folks like you can argue we didn't win.
You just need the will to do this.
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