New Delhi, May 5 -- On March 27, 2026, a coordinated Iranian strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, six ballistic missiles and twenty-nine one-way attack drones, destroyed E-3G Sentry serial number 81-0005, a U.S. Air Force airborne warning and control system aircraft. Its rear fuselage was burned through. Its rotating radar dome, the distinctive disc that defines the aircraft's function, was on the ground.

The USAF has yet to formally declare it a total loss, but air battle managers who reviewed the images have described the destruction as effectively irreparable. The aircraft, based on the Boeing 707 airframe first launched in the 1950s, entered Air Force service in 1978. Its production line closed in 1992. There are no repl...