US military tanker aircraft refueled Israeli jets throughout the 12-day US-Israeli war against Iran to ease the burden on Israel’s limited and aging fleet of tankers, Israel Hayom has reported.
The report said that “hundreds of aerial refuelings were conducted for Israeli fighter jets flying to Iran” during the 12 days of attacks on Iran. It was always believed that Israel wouldn’t be able to launch significant airstrikes on Iran without the US supporting the attacks with refueling.
In the first days of the 12-day war, dozens of US KC-135s, KC-46s, and other tanker aircraft were spotted by flight trackers leaving the United States and heading east across the Atlantic Ocean. US officials confirmed that the tanker deployment was related to the Middle East, and the Israel Hayom report said that some of them were used to refuel Israeli jets.
Besides the refueling, the US also supported Israel’s attacks on Iran by providing intelligence, helping intercept Israeli missiles and drones, and eventually launching its own airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities using B-2 bombers, a fleet of fighter jets, and a submarine.
It’s unclear how much the 12-day war cost the US, but it must be in the billions, as a report from Military Watch Magazine estimated that the US used 15% to 20% of its global THAAD anti-missile arsenal, which comes at a cost of at least $800 million. The US is believed to have two of its seven THAAD missile defense systems stationed in Israel, along with US troops to operate them.
