United States Central Command (CENTCOM) has confirmed the death of four crewmembers of a downed refuelling jet that collided with another aircraft on Thursday.
Four people have died and a further two are missing after two USAF KC-135 air refuelling tankers collided in the skies over Iraq around 2pm Eastern Time on Thursday. CENTCOM first reported the loss on Thursday afternoon and stated it was down to an incident between two aircraft, one of which was “lost” over Iraq and the other which managed to “land safely”.
An Iraqi group claimed to have shot down the aircraft with a missile after the news broke, but this was denied by the U.S. which stated from the first that the incident didn’t involve either enemy action or friendly fire.
“Rescue efforts continue” for the two remaining crew, they said. The identities of the dead are being withheld until their families have been contacted.
While CENTCOM stated the circumstances of the incident are being investigated, some details have emerged. Images of a KC-135 tanker missing a large part of its vertical tail, including rudder and stabiliser, that is said to have landed in Tel Aviv yesterday have been published.
The aircraft were flying in support of Operation Epic Fury, the two-week-old U.S. mission to degrade Iran’s nuclear, missile, and maritime capability. The tanker is the fourth known U.S. aircraft destroyed during the course of the operation, after a major friendly-fire incident in the skies over Kuwait saw three F-15E Strike Eagles downed by a single Kuwaiti Air Force fighter. In that case, all six aircrew were able to eject safely.
Boeing-made KC-135 Stratotankers carry large amounts of aviation fuel and are equipped with a probe or drogue that allows it to pump fuel directly into the tanks of other aircraft. The operation required a high degree of skill and carries some risk, but it allows assets to remain airborne for considerably extended periods of time.
The KC-135 fleet is a venerable one, the airframe having first flown in the 1950s and some aircraft in service now being over 60 years old. It is one of the longest continually serving military aircraft in the world. Dozens of KC-135s have been lost in service over that very long timeframe, but public records show that beyond a handful of high-profile incidents losses from mid-air collisions have been rare, with crashes at take-off or landing claiming the lions share.
Air refuelling proved particularly important in the early stages of Operation Epic Fury as the United States launched airstrikes on Iranian positions from bases in the United States, necessitating return flights of over 30 hours to deliver payloads to target before returning home.
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