Day 13: Two KC-135 Tankers Collide Over Iraq — 6 Airmen Dead, $140M Lost

On Day 13 of Operation Epic Fury, six American airmen died — not from an enemy missile, not from a drone strike, but from a mid-air collision between two of their own aircraft over western Iraq. Two KC-135 Stratotankers, each older than the pilots flying them, collided during a refueling mission. One was destroyed. The other limped to Ben Gurion Airport in Israel with half its tail sheared off.

Six families got the knock on the door they had been dreading. $140 million in aircraft turned to wreckage over the Iraqi desert. And somewhere in the Pentagon, someone had to explain how you lose two planes and six people not to the enemy but to the brutal arithmetic of pushing 60-year-old machines past their limits.

The Deadliest Single Incident of the War

The collision happened over western Iraq during a routine aerial refueling support mission for Operation Epic Fury strikes. The two KC-135s were operating in the same airspace when they struck each other. The first aircraft went down immediately; all crew aboard were killed. The second aircraft sustained catastrophic damage to its vertical stabilizer but remained flyable. Its crew made an emergency landing at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel.

Six dead. $140 million in aircraft. And a fleet of aerial tankers that the Air Force has been flying since the early 1960s, now being tasked with sustaining one of the most intense air campaigns in American history.

The Air Force depends on aerial refueling tankers for nearly every strike mission of this war. Without them, the F-35s, F-15Es, and B-2s that have been pummeling Iran for nearly two weeks cannot reach their targets. The pressure on the tanker fleet has been extraordinary — and now six airmen have paid the price for it.

Kuwait Casualties Revised Upward

The Pentagon quietly revised the casualty figures from the Iranian strike on Port Shuaiba, Kuwait. The initial count of 4 killed and 18 wounded has been corrected to 6 killed and 60+ wounded — a revision that adds $18 million in additional costs and two more names to the growing list of American dead.

Combined with the KC-135 collision and the previously confirmed death of Sgt. Pennington, the US death toll now stands at 13 service members killed in 13 days of war.

Brent Crude Hits $120 — IEA: Largest Oil Disruption in History

The International Energy Agency issued a statement describing the Strait of Hormuz closure as the largest oil supply disruption in recorded history. Brent crude crossed $120 per barrel on Day 13, up from $119.50 the previous day and nearly double the pre-war price of approximately $63.

One in five barrels of the world's traded oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has kept it closed since the war began. Every additional day the strait stays shut adds another layer of economic damage to a global economy already staggering under two years of post-pandemic inflation.

• American consumers are paying record prices at the pump, with national average gas prices surging past $5 a gallon in many states
• Airlines have begun surcharging tickets and cutting routes
• Freight costs have doubled for goods moving through Asia
• Developing economies with no strategic reserves face acute shortages

US Strikes PMU Headquarters in Akashat

US aircraft struck a Popular Mobilization Forces headquarters in Akashat, western Iraq. The strikes killed 30+ fighters and destroyed the compound. Estimated cost: $10 million in munitions.

The PMU, an official component of Iraq's armed forces allied with Iran, has been launching rockets and drones at US positions in Iraq and Syria since the war began. The Akashat strike was the largest single PMU target hit since the campaign started.

New Supreme Leader Threatens New Fronts

Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued his most significant warning since taking power. In a statement broadcast on Iranian state media, Khamenei pledged that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed for as long as US forces continue operations against Iran, and warned that Iran was prepared to open "new fronts" in the conflict.

He did not specify what those fronts would be. He did not need to. Hezbollah in Lebanon. Ansar Allah in Yemen. Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq. Allied groups in Bahrain. The geography of Iran's alliances across the region is a map of everywhere this war could still spread.

3.2 Million Iranians Displaced

UNHCR updated its displacement estimate for Iran: up to 3.2 million people have now been forced from their homes inside the country. That is the entire population of Chicago, sleeping in relatives' homes, in tents, in cars, or simply walking. They did not choose this war. They are paying for it with their lives and their homes regardless.

Thirteen Days In: Approaching $12 Billion

Thirteen days. A KC-135 collision that killed six airmen and destroyed $140 million in aircraft. Kuwait casualties revised to 6 dead, 60+ wounded. Brent crude at $120, the highest in history. A new supreme leader pledging new fronts. 3.2 million people displaced. And a running total approaching $12 billion — for a war that was supposed to be swift, decisive, and over before the world noticed.

The six airmen who died over western Iraq today did not die fighting the enemy. They died because the United States Air Force is flying tankers that were built before most of their parents were born, at a tempo those aircraft were never designed to sustain, in a war that was never put to a vote. Their deaths are a consequence of choices made by people who will never fly a 60-year-old aircraft at three in the morning over a combat zone.

Track the cost in real time at PayForWar.com.