An Air Force KC-135 tanker crashed on Friday in northern Kyrgyzstan, announced officials with the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing at the Transit Center at Manas near Bishkek in the Central Asian nation. The status of the three crewmembers is unknown, they said in a release. Emergency response crews are on scene, they said. The tanker and crew are assigned to Manas, which is a major air hub for sustaining coalition operations in Afghanistan.
The Air Force in October carried out a homeland defense mission, with jets including F-16 Fighting Falcons, in Alaska’s remote Aleutian Islands to show a base there could safeguard the northern regions.