An Iranian missile attack on a Saudi Arabian base used by the Air Force has injured about a dozen service members and destroyed an AWACS aircraft and reportedly damaged an unknown number of KC-135 tankers. The attack also included drones. Military officials have declined comment on the attack. Air and Space Forces magazine first reported the incident at Prince Sultan Air Base using unnamed sources and photos were leaked. The attack took out the empennage of AWACS tail number 0005 under the radome and the tail separated from the rest of the plane.
Analysts quoted by the magazine said the aircraft, known in the AWACS community as Captain Planet, was attached to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City and was in active use coordinating aviation assets in the monthlong war. Sources say the AWACS fleet was already stretched thin because the Air Force has retired almost half of the original fleet, and of the 16 aircraft remaining only eight or nine are typically in flying condition. The E-7 Wedgetail will eventually replace the E-3s but that program is behind schedule.
“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.”…airandspaceforce.com
Six were deployed for Middle East missions. Now only five at best available since this one is destroyed… but with only MCR of 56%. These E-3 AWAC’s are the only “eyes” the US has as all of the all of the land-based radar sites are destroyed.
3 more B-1’s arrived in the UK for a total of 15. They can deploy and return from their sorties only from the UK. 1/3rd of all our B1’s are in the UK. “Based on recent data from the U.S. Air Force, the B-1B Lancer bomber fleet has experienced consistently low operational readiness—often referred to as Mission Capable (MC) rates—falling below 50% in recent years.
It took 30+ hours to fight the fires from the “laundry” aboard the USS Ford. They were attacked from 17 different directions, at the same time, by Iranian drones and anti-ship missles. So far, it’s still in Crete. USS Lincoln staying over 1,000 kilometers from Iran’s coastline to avoid similar attack.
Yemen sent the USS Truman back to Norfolk a year ago. They are now back in the fight, and will close off the Red Sea again as they did last year to all US/Israel ships, and ships flagged or owned by countries supporting the war against Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank. They have Yemen designed and manufactured hypersonic technology similar to Iran. We do not.
And the 82nd Airborne just arrived in Kuwait to a destroyed airbase and will be housed in local hotels because the barracks, hangars, and storage buildings are damaged or destroyed. There are no bunkers there.
Iraqi militias has now joined with Iran. Iraq wants to retake Kuwait. The Strait of Hormuz has really never been closed. But is closed to US/Israel shipping and any country’s ships supporting the US/Isael war against Iran. 100’s of ships are currently in the Strait of Hormuz. How and where do you land troops on any island or Iranian beach head, and provide the required logistical support for an invasion operation amount 100’s of vessels and a heavily fortified wall of mountains coastline? The 82nd is now in the cross-hairs of an already suicidal mission. And this is “victory”? These next few weeks are going to be a very dark chapter for the US.
“The Strait of Hormuz has really never been closed.”
Well, not closed in that a chain has been stretched across the waters. But it might as well be closed.
Normal daily traffic is 130-140 ship crossings every day. Since the war started that has dropped to nearly zero, and has been actually zero on most days. Even on the day when “8, maybe it was 10 tankers” sailed through the actual number was 4, and they weren’t all tankers. As one analyst put it, it’s like squeezing off the femoral artery – the whole body is going to be affected.
Recently, the few ships that have been getting out have been sailing close to the Iranian coast, well outside the normal shipping lanes. Reportedly they’re being inspected and allowed in or out by the Iranians after paying a $2 million toll.
There are still about 2,000 ships still stuck in the Persian Gulf since this war began, unable to risk running the Strait.
As degraded as Iran’s military may be, they still have enough missiles and drones left to threaten shipping in the Gulf. Especially unarmoured, unarmed, civilian freighters and tankers.
i think they mined it?
Iran has for 4,500 years, owned the territorial waters and islands contained called the Strait of Hormuz. Europe, including the West has invaded Iran many times prior to the discovery of oil around 1903, to take control of the Strait of Hormuz. Why? Because this is and has been the crossroads of global trade, commonly called the Silk Road. And the collective West has exploited this area for centuries. Since the beginning of the 20th century, this exploitation has been on steroids with the discovery of oil. Iran has been a civilization that brought forth advanced mathematics such as algebra, calculus, modern cosmology including space science, in addition to advance medicine, among other significant sciences the world has benefited from. The narrative since 1903 propagandized by our schools, movies,and the press, is Persians are irrational, ignorant, emotional, religious jihadist, tent dwelling, camel riding, turban wearing, nomads bent on destroying any culture that does not believe in their version of god. Therefore, the US has a moral obligation to invade and control this rogue nation. Stereotypical hyperbole?
Iran knows how the US government views them and their resources. From 1953 to 1979, Iran has lived under US, handpicked puppet regime installed after the US led and financed coup removing their democratically elected president in 1953. Why? Because he wanted to nationalize and control their oil resources removing those resources from foreign control, including the US. 1979 the Iranians revolted against the Shah of Iran. Then we financed and militarized Iraq’s Saddam Hussein into a proxie war against Iran from 1980-1988, to regain US control of Iran’s oil. When that failed, we attacked our “ally” Iraq accusing Saddam of having weapons of mass destruction resulting the invasion of Iraq. The US then installed bases in Iraq all around Iran, in addition to US proxies UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait’s across the Strait of Hormuz and at the northern end of the Persian Gulf. And we are shocked and insulted Iran closed off the Strait of Hormuz to Israeli and US ships? We are outraged Iran is charging a toll for access and safe travel for use of their oil facilities after over 125 years of Western exploitation of their resources? How dare Iran control THEIR own country!
Lastly, you seemed to ignore the more obvious our military hardware/software, including our Air Force and Navy is worn out, technologically inferior, meager in numbers, and 8,000+ miles from logistical support, putting thousands of US personnel in peril, slaughtering thousands of middle eastern civilians for what legal, ethical purpose? With no say so by you and me including funding this debacle! How dare we attempt to control OUR own government!
Quite possibly we started what might be WWIII. Talk about under estimating! This world is now changed permanently due to our hubris. And this global “evolution” is far from over.
Algebra, algorithms, spherical trigonometry and binomial theorems, yes, but not calculus. For that, credit Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in the 17th C., neither of whom was Persian. 🙂
You are correct!👍
And let’s not forget that Iran which is really the ancient Persian empire held off Rome for over 200 years.
While I don’t claim to be a military expert, this whole endeavor seems to be very poorly planned out and impulsive. I truly hope it ends soon and not badly.
in war no matter how good you plan,you have to adjust to anything
…and if you don’t plan, then nothing ever goes against it.
What news source did you use to find out that the USS FORD had been attacked by drones and misses? I haven’t seen or read anything in WSJ, NYT , PHIL. INQUIRER, etc. There is a fair amount of You Tube video reports about this however.
Your news sources are not sources for news. They are propaganda sources designed to maintain an enemy or enemies narrative hostile to US colonization of others resources. You need to explore those YT, X/Twitter, Sub-Stack, Rumble, Tick Tock, etc alternatives sifting thru the inevitable propaganda and factual sites. This takes time, effort, and discernment but worth it if combined with knowledge of history and the nuances that come with that historical understanding. My missionary aviation experiences forced me to confront my ignorance of history and the propaganda that supported my initial ignorance.
Boy you got that right. Mainstream so-called news is nothing but propaganda. Much of the AI YouTubes are fake as well. But there are good websites for news. Not that I agree with all of their viewpoints or angles, but at least you get the real news if you do a little digging. You could start with Steve Quayle.com
Were you with Wycliff or JARS?
I don’t have to agree with different worldviews. Different worldviews put people in a variety of reporting positions and locations. I am looking for journalism rather than a support system for narratives. So, I am curious how people come to the conclusions they do. I want the info for personal evaluation. Historical nuance is critical. As a result, I have come to some personal conclusion’s about flying, health, politics, religion, war, jobs, missionary work, etc. One significant life lesson for me is… do what others do, get what others get. Another observation… perception is most folks reality. I find that most perceptions are stereotypical in nature. Stereotypes tend to be highly prejudicial. Prejudices are largely taught. So, people’s reality is formed from stereotypical viewpoints loaded with prejudices largely taught rather than experienced. Most opinions reflect stereotypical prejudices rather than coming from experiences. Experiences requires some risk that one’s stereotypical prejudicial expectation might not be true.
If people find out I am an aircraft owner, the stereotypical viewpoint and response often is, I am wealthy, privileged more than most, and live a country club lifestyle (whatever the stereotypical worldview of a country club lifestyle might be as additional baggage in their perception of aircraft ownership). Most have never flown in a lightplane, seen one up close but sometimes has a “buddy” who has one quickly followed with colorful “my buddy” stories. These GA stereotypical prejudices are taught rather coming from experiences. But these perceptions are the reality’s for most average citizens.
My mission aviation experience was with AWA, Adventist World Aviation. I have friends/contacts with JAARS, MAF, Wycliffe, Samaritan’s Purse, Moody Aviation, and a few others. These relationships are all over the world allowing for learning from many eyewitness accounts of overseas politics and events.
we have to secure the bunker site with uranium + to finish it steve usn ret.
I so badly want to contradict your post sir – but logically cannot. Even worse, the “dealmaker-in-chief” thinks he has the answer.
“It took 30+ hours to fight the fires from the “laundry” aboard the USS Ford. They were attacked from 17 different directions, at the same time, by Iranian drones and anti-ship missles.”
Can you please provide a credible source for this statement?
https://www.cusnc.navy.mil/Media/News/Display/Article/4431969/statement-of-uss-gerald-r-ford/
“On March 12, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) experienced a fire that originated in the ship’s main laundry spaces. The cause of the fire was not combat-related and is contained.”
Presumably he was asking for a source for “They were attacked from 17 different directions, at the same time, by Iranian drones and anti-ship missiles.”
Hi Call Me Dave, yep, that’s what he’s looking for, but I couldn’t find anything credible, just Facebook or Youtube posts, which could be anybody or anything. I posted the Navy statement above because it is directly counter to the claim the carrier was attacked. Haha, there was the Russian Tass news agency, which reported, “US servicemen themselves set fire to the USS Gerald R. Ford so they wouldn’t have to fight against Iran” (https://tass.com/world/2101211) – and check out who’s telling Tass that information: a spokesman for the Islamic Republic’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters. AI sources generally state the fire was caused by the ship’s laundry system. Google Gemini overview: “Reports claiming Iranian drones attacked the USS Gerald R. Ford from 17 directions in March 2026 are misleading, as the Pentagon stated no such attack occurred. The ship underwent repairs in Greece following a March 2026 onboard fire in its laundry area, not a combat strike.”
Tehran Tom is at it again.
Rest assured good Americans that the people of Iran will once again have their country back under their terms and the Middle East will have its largest cancer removed. Godspeed to the Iranian people. They are not our enemy.
Let’s see- put a 5 time draft dodger, rapist and failed businessman in charge of the biggest industrial democracy on the planet.Twice.
Then add a drunken sex pest Fox host, who was such a poor soldier his Guard unit kept him away from a combat deployment, as SecDef.
Sprinkle on a billionaire SecNav with ZERO military and ZERO maritime experience.
Season with a Stalinist purge of non-MAGA military officer corps.
Garnish with the post-Reagan gutting of our industrial base, that makes rapid production and maintenance of weapons possible in a conflict while fulfilling our obligations to our treaty partners in Europe and Asia.
And finally allow a pissant Mediterranean theocracy to dictate the timing and conduct of said war.
How the hell did we expect it to turn out? And the economic losses aren’t even beginning to be experienced other than $7/gallon gas.
so
much
winning!
It appears this operation had no goals other than to get conned by Israel to join their program. This has made the U.S.look so bad in the world’s eyes that allies are now questioning their trust in the out of control behaviour of tthe U.S.
The USA has “looked bad” in the eyes of Europe and most of the world since WWII, though they never failed to hold out their hands at the money trough. I, for one, could care less what “the world” thinks about us.
You’ll care when the quality of life we’ve enjoyed since Ike goes in the crapper when the full effects of trade isolationism hit us.
Europe has been living off the breaking backs of the American taxpayer for many decades now. That needs to change.
Israel wanted to knock out those Iranian nuke sites 20 years ago but the United States wouldn’t allow Israeli fighters to fly through Iraqi airspace. The U.S. has been at war with Russia ever since Korea, Vietnam and Ukraine and now Iran. With Israel in the mix, you can be certain this conflict will not turn out the way many would expect.
did we lose anybody in this crash?
It seems very likely that Iran targeted the AWACS with the aid of intelligence and satellite imagery provided by Russia, based on reports by the Washington Post, CBS News and others,