EL7.AI
GeopoliticsMedium•22 October 2026•
2 min read

12 U.S. service members wounded in Iranian strike on Prince Sultan base in March

Key Facts

1Reuters cited a U.S. official as saying 12 U.S. service members, including 2 seriously wounded, were injured in an Iranian strike on the base on March 27.
2Reuters cited the Wall Street Journal as reporting that 5 U.S. refuelling aircraft were damaged in March, while the agency could not independently verify the report at the time.
3The Saudi Defence Ministry denied reports in June that Prince Sultan Air Base in Al-Kharj governorate had been targeted.
4Reuters revealed in April that a Ukrainian command-and-control platform had been deployed at the base as part of efforts to counter drones.

12 U.S. service members, including 2 seriously wounded, were injured in an Iranian strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia on March 27, Reuters reported, citing a U.S. official in its coverage of the incident at the time. Investing, citing officials discussing the March attack, said the wounded service members were inside a building at the base that was hit in the strike. It added that the attack also damaged U.S. refuelling aircraft, as well as the building where the service members were located. In another report in March, Reuters cited the Wall Street Journal as reporting that 5 U.S. Air Force refuelling aircraft were damaged on the ground at the base. The newspaper described the aircraft as having been "struck and damaged on the ground at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia". Reuters said in that report that it could not independently verify the newspaper's account concerning the aircraft at the time.

In an earlier incident in March, Saudi Defence Ministry spokesman Turki al-Maliki announced that a ballistic missile had been launched towards Prince Sultan Air Base, according to Asharq Al-Awsat. Maliki said the missile "fell in an uninhabited area after being launched towards Prince Sultan Air Base". In June, the Saudi Defence Ministry issued a denial of reports that the base had been targeted, in a separate incident reported by Arab News. The denial concerned reports of an attack on Monday on the base in Al-Kharj governorate. The ministry said in its statement that "reports that Prince Sultan Air Base in Al-Kharj governorate was targeted in an attack on Monday are incorrect".

In a subsequent report in April, Reuters revealed, citing sources familiar with the matter, that a Ukrainian command-and-control platform had been deployed at Prince Sultan Air Base. The platform is called "Sky Map", according to the agency's reporting on the technology deployed at the base. Its deployment was part of efforts to counter drones, according to the sources cited in the report. Reuters sent inquiries to U.S. Central Command about the deployment of the Ukrainian counter-drone technology. Central Command declined to comment, the agency said in its April report.