₦airaland Forum

Nwaikpe:
Your most powerful jeehardeest country ( Iran) couldn't take off even one aircraft from their run way,

and

A US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker, a refueling aircraft, crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, the US military said, adding the incident was “not due to hostile fire or friendly fire” but involved a second US tanker.

At least five crew members were aboard the tanker that went down, a US official told CNN. A statement from US Central Command said rescue efforts were ongoing but did not specify whether any US service members had been hurt or killed.

“The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury, and rescue efforts are ongoing,” the CENTCOM release said, using the name the Pentagon has given to US operations against Iran. “Two aircraft were involved in the incident. One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely. This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.”

The CENTCOM release said more information would become available as “the situation develops” and asked for patience as more details were gathered “to provide clarity for the families of service members.”

Western Iraq is a sparsely populated mostly desert area. US and western forces in Iraq have come under fire from pro-Iran militias since the war with Iran broke out, but those attacks are mostly done by drones in the north of the country.

The KC-135 is effectively a flying gas station that allows aircraft to refuel in the sky to extend their range and remain within a battle zone for longer.

Its flight crew typically includes three to four service members, according to the Air Force: a pilot, a copilot and a boom operator, the person who refuels other aircraft mid-air. Some missions require navigators in the crew as well, an Air Force fact sheet said.

The jets can also be configured to carry cargo and medical patients.

The Air Force did not say what specific mission the jets involved in Thursday’s incident were performing.

The KC-135s are some of the oldest platforms in the US Air Force’s inventory, with the last unit delivered in 1965, according to an Air Force fact sheet.

The four-engine jets are based on the Boeing 707 passenger jet, with 376 units on active duty as of last year, according to a US congressional report. They have undergone significant upgrades over the years, including new engines.

The loss of the tanker is the fourth known aircraft loss in the war with Iran.

Last week, three F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets were shot down over Kuwait in a mistaken friendly fire incident; all six crew members ejected safely.

saphiere:
Trumpet where are thou? lol una never see anything yet.
Instead of you to allow Kamala Harris to rule US u say presidency na ur birth right.

The U.S. Navy has refused near-daily requests from the shipping industry for military escorts through the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war on Iran, saying the risk of attacks is too high for now, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The Navy's assessments spell continued disruption to Middle East oil exports and reflect a divergence from President Donald Trump’s statements that the U.S. is prepared to provide naval escorts whenever needed to restart regular shipments along the key waterway.

Shipping along the narrow strait has all but halted since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran more than a week ago, preventing exports of around a fifth of the world’s oil supply and sending global oil prices surging to highs not seen since 2022.


A senior official with Iran's Revolutionary Guards has said the Strait is closed and Iran will fire on any ship trying to pass, Iranian media reported last week. Several ships have already been hit.

The U.S. Navy has held regular briefings with shipping and oil industry counterparts and has said during those briefings it is unable to provide escorts for the time being, three shipping industry sources familiar with the matter said.

The sources, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the shipping industry has been making requests almost daily during the calls for naval escorts through the strait.

One of the sources said the Navy’s assessment during Tuesday’s briefing had not changed and that escorts would only be possible once the risk of attack was reduced.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Orlandoo:
A terrorist OP masquerading as a dedicated christian hailing his fellow terrorists.

FreeStuffsNG:
Truth has started coming out small small.

They are more than 150!

I’ll give you the best reason of all. Within a week, they were going to attack us, 100%. They were ready

United States President, Donald Trump, has said Iran possessed more missiles than initially believed and was preparing to launch an attack on the United States.

Trump made the remark on Monday while addressing House Republicans at their annual policy retreat in Florida.

“I’ll give you the best reason of all. Within a week, they were going to attack us, 100%. They were ready.

“They had all these missiles, far more than anyone thought, and they were going to attack us.”

The president’s comments come amid the ongoing U.S. military campaign against Iran, which he suggested may soon come to an end.

In a phone interview with CBS News on Monday afternoon from his golf club in Doral, Florida, Trump said American forces had already weakened Iran’s military capacity.

“I think the war is very complete, pretty much,” the president said. “[Iran has] no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force. Their missiles are down to a scatter. Their drones are being blown up all over the place, including their manufacturing of drones.”

According to the U.S. military, more than 3,000 targets across Iran were struck during the first week of the operation.

“If you look, they have nothing left. There’s nothing left in a military sense,” Trump said.

Late Sunday, Iran announced that Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei would succeed his father as the country’s supreme leader.

“I have no message for him. None, whatsoever,” the president said, adding that he has someone else in mind to lead the country.

Iran’s Tasnim News Agency published a report on Monday promoting speculation that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have been killed or wounded, reviving the kind of wartime rumor that has repeatedly spread online during the current Israel-Iran conflict.

The Persian-language item did not present evidence of a strike on Netanyahu or any official confirmation of harm. Instead, it assembled a series of circumstantial points, including the absence of recent video clips of Netanyahu, reports in Hebrew-language media about tightened security around his home, the postponement of a reported visit by Jared Kushner and US special envoy Steve Witkoff, and a French readout of a call between President Emmanuel Macron and Netanyahu that did not specify the date of the conversation.

According to Israeli media reports, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has sent a message to Israelis’ phones, urging them to leave the country.

“NO SHELTER CAN PROVIDE SAFETY”

The message stated:

The last American radar systems in the region have been destroyed. Your government leaders are lying to you. Leave the country. Missiles are on their way. No shelter can provide safety. — Islamic Revolutionary Guard”

In an open letter to Trump on X, Habtoor attacked Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran, asking the US leader: "Who gave you the authority to drag our region into a war with #Iran? And on what basis did you make this dangerous decision?

Did you calculate the collateral damage before pulling the trigger? And did you consider that the first to suffer from this escalation will be the countries of the region itself!

The peoples of this region have the right to ask as well: Was this your decision alone? Or did it come as a result of pressures from #Netanyahu and his government?"

The Emirati founder and chairman of the Al Habtoor Group that deals with hospitality, automotive, car leasing, real estate, education, and publishing sectors accused Trump of placing the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries "at the heart of a danger they did not choose."

"You (Trump) have placed the countries of the #GulfCooperationCouncil and the Arab countries at the heart of a danger they did not choose. Thank God, we are strong and capable of defending ourselves, and we have armies and defences that protect our homelands, but the question remains: Who gave you permission to turn our region into a battlefield?" Habtoor asked Trump

In response to a question about buying Ukraine's drones, President Donald Trump told Reuters Thursday, "I'll take any assistance from any country."

Newsweek has contacted the Department of Defense for comment via email.

The report followed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying late Wednesday that various countries, including the U.S., have approached Ukraine for help in defending against the Iranian drones.

"We received a request from the United States for specific support in protection against (Iranian-designed) 'shaheds' in the Middle East region," Zelenskiy wrote in English on the X social media platform.

"I gave instructions to provide the necessary means and ensure the presence of Ukrainian specialists who can guarantee the required security."

Conventional Wisdom: Iran War Edition
Ukrainian-made interceptors offer a much cheaper alternative for defense against Iranian drone attacks than the U.S.-made Patriot missile systems.

They have been developed using Ukraine's experience during years of drone-heavy warfare with Russia, which has relied on Iranian-made Shaheds for aerial attacks.

The Ukrainian interceptors cost thousands of dollars each versus millions for a Patriot missile.

The drone problem offers Zelensky an opportunity to win the much-needed favor of President Trump, who is attempting to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

But it is also a question of necessity: Ukraine relies on the Patriot missile systems to defend its own skies from relentless Russian missile attacks, and the depletion of their supply due to the Iran war will make it harder for Kyiv to get hold of them.

Offering to solve the Iranian drone problem with a cheaper Ukrainian alternative preserves Patriot supplies.

It was an Iranian drone that hit a U.S. facility in Kuwait and killed several American military personnel, the first to die in the war.

The United Arab Emirates alone said Thursday it has intercepted more than 1,000 Iranian drones and nearly 200 missiles fired into its territory since the war began.

Zelensky said he has spoken in recent days with the leaders of the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, and Kuwait about possible cooperation on drones.

Russia has fired tens of thousands of Shaheds at Ukraine since it invaded its neighbor just over four years ago, launching a swarm of more than 800 drones and decoys in its biggest nighttime barrage.

Ukrainian assistance in countering Iranian drones will be provided only if it does not weaken Ukraine’s own defenses, and if it adds leverage to Kyiv’s diplomatic efforts to stop the Russian invasion, according to the Ukrainian leader.

“We help to defend from war those who help us, Ukraine, bring a just end to the war” with Russia, Zelensky said.

Ukraine has pioneered the development of cut-price drone killers that cost as little as $1,000, rewriting the air defense rule book and making other countries take notice.

European countries got a wake-up call last September on the changed nature of air defense when Poland scrambled multimillion-dollar military assets, including F-35 and F-16 fighter jets and Black Hawk helicopters, in response to airspace violations by cheap drones.

Ukrainian manufacturers have developed low-cost interceptor drones specifically designed to hunt and destroy Shaheds, and its rapidly expanding drone industry is producing excess capacity.

Zelensky announced earlier this year that Ukraine would begin exporting the battle-tested systems.