{"id":1919,"date":"2026-03-27T22:25:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T22:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/2026\/03\/27\/updated-iranian-attack-on-prince-sultan-air-base-reportedly-struck-u-s-kc-135s-e-3-sentry\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T22:25:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T22:25:49","slug":"updated-iranian-attack-on-prince-sultan-air-base-reportedly-struck-u-s-kc-135s-e-3-sentry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/2026\/03\/27\/updated-iranian-attack-on-prince-sultan-air-base-reportedly-struck-u-s-kc-135s-e-3-sentry\/","title":{"rendered":"[Updated] Iranian Attack on Prince Sultan Air Base Reportedly Struck U.S. KC-135s, E-3 Sentry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"attack<\/p>\n

Satellite images show signs of an attack at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, with The Wall Street Journal<\/em> now reporting that an Iranian missile damaged \u201cseveral U.S. refueling aircraft.\u201d<\/h2>\n

Satellite images emerged on Mar. 27, 2026, appeared to show signs of damage on an apron used by U.S. aircraft at Prince Sultan Air Base, in Saudi Arabia. The images were initially thought to be linked to an attack which damaged KC-135 Stratotankers<\/a> aerial refueling aircraft two weeks earlier.<\/p>\n

However, the European satellite Sentinel-2, using Short-Wave Infra-Red (SWIR) imagery, showed a heat signature at the same location<\/a> on Mar. 27. The heat signature might have been possibly caused by flames and the hot gases in the smoke towering from the area.<\/p>\n

\n

Satellite imagery appears to confirm a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker has been destroyed and several others possibly damaged, as a result of an Iranian attack earlier today, utilizing ballistic missiles and drones, against Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

Image\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/o7x32UjUOb<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

SWIR data from a Sentinel-2 pass earlier today confirms at least one large, open fire burning on the apron. pic.twitter.com\/kC1DokTHCf<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now, The Wall Street Journal<\/em>, quoting U.S. and Saudi officials familiar with the matter, reports that Prince Sultan Air Base was hit by an Iranian missile<\/a>, \u201cdamaging several U.S. refueling aircraft.\u201d The unnamed officials also noted the use of drones in the strike.<\/p>\n

\n

An Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Airbase today damaged multiple aerial refueling tankers -U.S. and Saudi officials to the WSJ https:\/\/t.co\/Mcdk0rZYxF<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/EZTLokB0UT<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The damage is currently unclear. Although previous satellite photos showed multiple tankers stacked closely in the open on the same apron, the images available are in low-resolution and do not allow to visually confirm the presence and amount of damage to airframes.<\/p>\n

According to an article published by Air&Space Forces<\/a>, an E-3 Sentry<\/a> AWACS plane was also damaged, although the report could not be verified.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Central Command has not yet commented on the matter. U.S. media outlets are reporting 10-12 U.S. service members were injured in the attack.<\/p>\n

\n

According to the Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. and Saudi officials with knowledge on the matter, several U.S. servicemembers were injured in an Iranian ballistic missile strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia earlier today. The Pentagon has yet to respond with a\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/Lph9x5KdTZ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Previous attack<\/h3>\n

Earlier in the month, The Wall Street Journal<\/em>, quoting U.S. officials, reported that five U.S. Air Force refueling planes<\/a> on the ground at Prince Sultan Air Base were damaged in an Iranian missile strike. The publication mentioned at the time that the aircraft were already being repaired and none was destroyed.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump disputed the reports, saying that \u201cfour of the five had virtually no damage,\u201d while \u201cone had slightly more damage.\u201d At the time, a statement from CENTCOM was not available.<\/p>\n

The type of aerial refuelers damaged in the Iranian attack was disclosed. However, satellite imagery showed only KC-135s deployed at the base, although we can\u2019t rule out some KC-46s<\/a> were also there due to the delay between the acquisition and the publication of the images.<\/p>\n

\n

An Iranian ballistic missile scored a direct hit on Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB) in Saudi Arabia \"\ud83c\uddf8\"\"\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\"\"\ud83c\uddf8\".<\/p>\n

PSAB is a key U.S. Air Force hub, hosting E-3 Sentry AWACS, E-11A BACNs, tankers, and fighter aircraft. pic.twitter.com\/cRzGP4rXXn<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Egypt\u2019s Intel Observer (@EGYOSINT) March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Prince Sultan Air Base<\/h3>\n

Prince Sultan Air Base is a strategic forward operating base that is located in the Saudi interior some 600 km from the Iranian coast. Because of its strategic position, the base regularly hosts U.S. assets, such as tankers, AWACS<\/a> (Airborne Warning and Control System) and SIGINT (Signal Intelligence) aircraft.<\/p>\n

Due to the U.S. presence, the base has been targeted by Iranian air strikes multiple times recently. The attacks also caused the death of U.S. service members deployed there.<\/p>\n

Attacks on parked aircraft<\/h3>\n

The series of attacks on Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States has already damaged or destroyed several U.S. and allied aircraft. The question is whether the Pentagon underestimated the lessons of Ukrainian war and, in particular, the operation that last year destroyed a significant portion of Russia\u2019s strategic aviation<\/a>. Certainly, the war in Ukraine and the emerging threat posed by various kinds of drones, including FPV (First Person View) ones, have made dispersal and the sheltered recovery of the most critical assets a renewed priority for all air arms, marking a return to the Cold War doctrine that called for the use of HAS (Hardened Aircraft Shelters) for tactical jets dispersed across airbases. Obviously, such shelters are not suitable for large aircraft like tankers, transport aircraft, or strategic bombers, which for this reason need to be based beyond the reach of Iranian missiles or drones. In this case, U.S. planners must have assumed they could still keep aircraft parked in the open, even though the previous attacks should have served as a significant warning.<\/p>\n

This is a developing story, we will update it as soon as new details emerge.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Satellite images show signs of an attack at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, with The Wall Street Journal now reporting that an Iranian missile damaged \u201cseveral U.S. refueling aircraft.\u201d Satellite images emerged on Mar. 27, 2026, appeared to show signs of damage on an apron used by U.S. aircraft at Prince Sultan Air Base, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}