Revision History

Six U.S. Air Force crew members — including a 33-year-old Alabama father of three who had deployed less than a week earlier — were killed on March 12, 2026, when two KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft collided over western Iraq during Operation Epic Fury, bringing the American death toll in the Iran campaign to 13. The crash, the first loss of an Air Force tanker in 13 years, has intensified scrutiny of the military's aging aerial refueling fleet and the decision to strip KC-135 crews of parachutes nearly two decades ago.