The US military's Central Command said Friday that four of six crew members of an American KC-135 refueling plane that went down in Iraq have been found dead and that recovery efforts were ongoing to find the other two.
- "The circumstances of the incident are under investigation. However, the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire," Central Command said in a post on X. "The identities of the service members are being withheld until 24 hours after next of kin have been notified."
Central Command said Thursday that the plane went down in Iraq after an incident involving two aircraft and the second plane was able to land without further trouble.
- The KC-135 Stratotanker is a US Air Force aircraft used to refuel other planes in midair, allowing them to travel longer distances and maintain operations longer without landing. The plane is also used to transport wounded personnel during medical evacuations or conduct surveillance missions, according to military experts.
- Based on the same design as the Boeing 707 passenger plane, the tanker has been in service for more than 60 years. The aging plane is set to be phased out as the Air Force receives a full complement of next-generation KC-46A Pegasus tankers. Despite upgrades over the years, the KC-135s' age has fueled concern about their reliability and durability.
- "The last of these planes were produced in the 1960s," says Yang Uk, a security expert at South Korea's Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
- A US official, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the developing situation, said the other plane involved was also a KC-135. Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the US, wrote on X that the other plane landed safely in Israel.
- Yang says it would be rare for a refueling tanker to be downed by enemy fire because refueling operations are usually conducted in the rear of combat zones.
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