Posted on 03/13/2026 4:48:45 PM PDT by Fury
March 13 (Reuters) - 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. The planes, which were hit during an Iranian missile strike on the Saudi base in recent days, were damaged but not fully destroyed and are being repaired, the Journal said, adding that no one was killed in the strikes.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
This is a duplicate of a previous thread. Would you please delete? Thank you.
Is Trump relying on CIA info for this war? Seems like it. If so i’m sure he will have a difficult time at what he might be trying to accomplish. They unfortunately are the enemy.
Is China behind this? Is someone trying to send a message, like with helicopters?
Everyone should just gang on and wait for confirmation.
I'd be curious to know who's doing the repairs, field maintenance or Boeing engineering teams.
These were probably second tier. Our best refuelers are parked in Israel, Negev air base. And much better protected.
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The Negev Desert hosts several key military air bases in Israel, including Nevatim Air Base and Mashabei Sadeh Air Force Base, which play crucial roles in national defense and regional security.
Nevatim Air Base
Location and Importance: Nevatim Air Base, located east of Be’er Sheva, is the largest and most critical Air Force base in Israel. It hosts multiple squadrons, including three F-35 fighter jet squadrons and transport squadrons operating Super Hercules and Hercules aircraft. It is also home to the Wing of Zion, Israel’s state aircraft.
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Recent Events: The base has been a target of missile attacks, notably from Iran, which has raised concerns about its operational integrity. Despite damage from these attacks, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that operations could continue without significant disruption.
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Mashabei Sadeh Air Force Base
US Military Presence: This base is notable for housing a US military facility known as Site 512, which is equipped with the AN/TPY-2 radar system. This radar is part of the US military’s missile defense architecture and plays a vital role in monitoring potential missile threats in the region, particularly from Iran.
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Strategic Role: The location of Mashabei Sadeh in the Negev Desert provides strategic advantages for early warning and tracking of missile launches, enhancing the security cooperation between the US and Israel.
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These bases are integral to Israel’s defense strategy, providing advanced capabilities and serving as critical points for military operations in the region.
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Thank you. Claim is very misleading. DJT posted on TruthSocial with details.
I still had this window open... :-)
With the number of refueling planes in the theatre, and Iran surely knows they are key to our efforts, given the number of missiles the Iranians started off with, this is not that surprising to me. From the sparse information we have, I’ll guess that Iran got one of their cluster warheads within a couple miles of the base.
I can foresee a need for a new type of hunter drone (or maybe we already have it?) Basically, it needs to be “cheap”, able to detect launches, have a long loitering time, and carry a fast missile that hits ballistic missiles very quickly in their ascent stage (before they get to Mach 3 or so.) We’d need to be able to keep ~500 or so of these in the air at any given time, to cover all of Iran. (Note that I am not saying this is yet completely practical — I am just illustrating the size of the problem. and it only works once we have air domination, )
BEST would be space based lasers. Not cheap...
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