On a trip to MacDill AFB, Fla., Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was asked at a Town Hall meeting to say when the Air Force would get a replacement for its Eisenhower-era aerial tankers. The “short answer,” he said, is, “I don’t know.” He termed that admission “a confession,” quipping, “Confession is good for the soul.” He went on to tell the Town Hall audience that the Pentagon had been “wrestling with this for four or five years. My personal view is that we’re getting closer … and a recommendation will be made to Congress.”
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.