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Sunday, March 29, 2026
Key US early warning and control aircraft heavily damaged in Iranian attack on Saudi airbase
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleEmanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
An American early warning and control aircraft was heavily damaged in an Iranian attack on an airbase in Saudi Arabia, according to officials cited by The Wall Street Journal and footage posted online.
Prince Sultan Airbase was targeted in an Iranian missile and drone attack on Friday, wounding 12 US servicemembers and damaging several refueling planes, it was reported yesterday.
New footage posted online appears to show that the attack also heavily damaged a Boeing E-3 Sentry, an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) plane.
The WSJ cites US and Arab officials as saying that an E-3 Sentry was among the aircraft damaged in the attack.
AWACS planes, like the E-3 Sentry, use advanced radars to track aircraft and missiles from hundreds of kilometers away, providing commanders with a real-time picture of the battlefield from the air.
The US reportedly only had 16 operational E-3 Sentry planes before the attack on the airbase in Saudi Arabia, down from a fleet of around 30 decades ago.
The WSJ reports that the E-3 Sentry fleet has no easy replacements ready for service, and that the nearest replacement, the E-7 Wedgetail, is projected to cost $700 million.
New image reportedly showing the USAF E-3 Sentry destroyed in an Iranian attack at Prince Sultan Airbase on Friday.
Matches 81-0005, an E-3C seen deployed to the base in recent weeks. pic.twitter.com/zRVzzkEPeU
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 29, 2026
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