Four confirmed dead in KC-135 crash, CENTCOM says

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Stars and Stripes

0March 13, 2026


Four of the six crew members who were aboard an Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker that crashed in western Iraq have been confirmed dead, U.S. Central Command said Friday.

The command said the identities of the service members are being withheld until 24 hours after the next of kin have been notified. Rescue efforts for the remaining crew members continue.

The refueler went down in friendly airspace at approximately 2 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday. The circumstances of the crash are still under investigation but CENTCOM said it was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire. Including the tanker crew, 11 service members have now been killed as part of Operation Epic Fury.

Six Army reservists assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) were killed in a drone attack in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, on the second day of Operation Epic Fury. Another soldier, Army Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, died Sunday after being wounded during a March 1 attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia.

Read more: https://www.stripes.com/branches/air_force/2026-03-13/kc-135-deaths-tanker-21049800.html

[democrank]

1. Kicking with a heavy heart

Awful news. Hope the two crew members still missing are found soon.

[QueerDuck]

8. I had to find a photo to remind myself of the size...

[Lonestarblue]

2. Now at lest 11 US soldiers Trump has killed with his unnecessary war on Iran.

[newdeal2]

3. Add unwise and unplanned too nt

[twodogsbarking]

4. My condolences to all. I remember Vietnam when they considered "winning" when the US killed at least

double Vietnamese compared to the US soldiers killed. The totals were posted daily on the news like a fucking basketball score. Wait for it.

[purr-rat beauty]

5. They died for the distraction...

....from the investigation into a pedophile ring

Our military leaders are not off the hook for this. They are complicit.

[riversedge]

6. May the families find peace.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

7. FUCKING ORANGE RAT COWARDLY BASTARD!!!

Doesn't give a shit about those Americans who are dying in his Epstein-Files-distraction of a war.

If there is a God, may He judge this sad excuse of a human being accordingly to His laws.

P.S. My late husband and I flew a KC-135 to England in 2015 when it landed at Mildenhall. It was a converted Boeing 707 that was built in 1960. Then back to the US a month later from Lakenheath Joint RAF/US Base to a base outside of East St. Louis.

[InstantGratification]

9. When I was stationed at Nellis AFB in Nevada

We deployed a squadron of F-16s from there to Ramstein AB in Germany. We took sixteen F-16s, divided into groups of 4. We maintainers and the support equipment were loaded onto four KC-10 tankers. The aircraft flew non stop to Germany with our fighters refueling as needed from the tankers. Because of the length of the flight the tankers themselves were refueled several times by other tankers that were staged along the route.

If it wasn't friendly or enemy fire that took that tanker down, what did? Other reporting mentioned that another aircraft was involved in the same incident but that aircraft landed ok. Purely speculation on my part, but my initial thought was "mid-air collision?" I wonder if a fighter attached to the refueling boom contacted the tail and damaged flight control surfaces. Or possibly it was refueling another tanker and they bumped.