All six Airmen who were aboard a KC-135 Stratotanker that crashed in western Iraq March 12 are confirmed to be dead, U.S. Central Command announced March 13.
The names of the deceased are being withheld for 24 hours after the U.S. military notifies the next of kin, as is standard practice. CENTCOM said that the KC-135 went down in western Iraq at about 9 p.m. local time. The command initially confirmed four crew members had died while rescue efforts continued for the other two Airmen but confirmed the entire crew died five hours later.
The crash, which involved another refueling aircraft, resulted in the first Air Force fatalities in Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. campaign against Iran. There have now been 13 U.S. fatalities during the war. Seven Soldiers were previously killed in Iranian strikes in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
The second aircraft involved was also a KC-135, which landed safely. That aircraft suffered significant damage to its vertical stabilizer, unconfirmed photos circulating on social media show.
At least one tanker was operating from Israel, flight tracking data indicates.
The circumstances surrounding the crash remain under investigation, but the U.S. military said it was not caused by hostile or friendly fire.
The incident is believed to be a midair collision, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.
“The incident occurred over friendly territory in western Iraq while the crew was on a combat mission,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine told reporters at the Pentagon March 13, before the final two casualties were announced.
The KC-135 that crashed on March 12 is the fourth crewed aircraft to be downed in operations against Iran, though none by the Iranians. On March 1, three Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighters were shot down by Kuwait F/A-18 aircraft in a friendly fire incident.
At least 10 remotely piloted Air Force MQ-9 Reapers have also been lost while conducting operations against Iran, Air & Space Forces Magazine previously reported.
The KC-135 has been in service since the 1960s, and the average aircraft is more than 66 years old. The Air Force’s tanker fleet has been in extremely high demand during Operation Epic Fury, refueling fighters, bombers, and support aircraft.
Previous casualties related to Operation Epic Fury include six Soldiers killed in an Iranian strike in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, and another Soldier killed at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia. About 140 service members have been injured, most of whom have returned to duty, the Pentagon said March 10. Another service member, a National Guard Soldier from New York, died at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, in a health-related incident. A French service member was killed and several others were wounded in an attack in the Kurdistan region of Iraq on March 12, according to President Emmanuel Macron.
This is the first loss of a KC-135—or any Air Force tanker—in 13 years. In May 2013, a Stratotanker crashed in the foothills of mountains in Kyrgyzstan immediately after taking off to support operations over Afghanistan. Three Airmen died in the incident.
This is also the deadliest Air Force mishap of any kind since November 2023, when a CV-22 Osprey went down off the coast of Japan with eight Airmen aboard, all of whom died.