by Rachel Blevins
The Pentagon is reeling, after Iran destroyed a crucial $270 Million E-3 Sentry spy plane—of which, the U.S. Air Force has just 16 left—in an attack on an air base in Saudi Arabia, that also took out multiple refueling tankers.
Not only are the E-3’s not in production anymore, but the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the closest replacement, a Boeing E-7 Wedgetail, would cost $700 Million to produce and the program is “years behind schedule.”
Reports say the Trump Admin is planning for “weeks of ground operations” in Iran, but at the rate they’re going… Washington is looking at more embarrassment and more American soldiers coming home in body bags.
This, as Israel continues to commit horrific war crimes in Lebanon, targeting and murdering three Lebanese journalists in a car… and then proceeding to strike and murder the nine paramedics who rushed to their aid.
SOURCE LINKS:
- 29 March 2026 – $270M E-3 Sentry spy plane demolished by Iranian attack at Saudi air base: photos
- 29 March 2026 – WSJ: Crucial E-3 Sentry Aircraft Damaged in Saudi Base Attack
- 29 March 2026 – Drop Site News on X: “Iran’s attack on Prince Sultan Air Base destroyed a U.S. command aircraft that will cost $1B+ to replace — and possibly destroyed three Stratotankers costing $80 million each”
- 28 March 2026 – Kelly Grieco on X: “Iran damaged a U.S. E-3 Sentry AWACS at Prince Sultan Air Base yesterday. The USAF has 16 left, nearly 40% are already in theater, and there’s no production line to replace them. This is one of the most strategically consequential losses of the war so far”
- 29 March 2026 – Damaged U.S. Jet’s Nearest Replacement Will Cost More Than $700 Million
- 29 March 2026 – Telegraph: Russia gave Iran satellite images of US base before strike
- 28 March 2026 – Israeli Strike Kills 3 Journalists in Southern Lebanon
- 29 March 2026 – Asem Alnabih on X: “Among the harsh details that have not left my imagination since yesterday is that the martyr Fatima Fatouani got out of the targeted car, wounded and bleeding, only to be pursued by the occupation’s aircraft, which bombed her again and confirmed her death in a criminal scene against a civilian, unarmed female journalist.”
- 29 March 2026 – DD Geopolitics on X: “IDF Photoshopped a photo of Al Manar journalist Ali Shuaib, who was killed in an IDF strike yesterday. The IDF had claimed he was part of Hezbollah’s Radwan Forces, but later admitted to Fox News that the image they published showing him in military uniform had been photoshopped.”
- 29 March 2026 – Muhammad Shehada on X: “Here’s Ali Shoaib reporting from right next to Israeli soldiers in Sep 2023 If he was a ‘Radwan force elite combatant,’ why didn’t they arrest him? how come they didn’t feel threatened by him while standing literally next to him?”
- 29 March 2026 – Houthis join Middle East conflict
- 26 March 2026 – Bab al-Mandeb Strait: another key shipping route under threat
- 29 March 2026 – WaPo: Pentagon prepares for weeks of ground operations in Iran
- 29 March 2026 – Iran warns UAE could face sweeping retaliation if US ground invasion begins