Servicemembers killed in refueling aircraft crash identified, President Trump calls for other countries to help reopen Strait of Hormuz as U.S. Marines headed to region, and China resumes air force activities around Taiwan.
1. The Pentagon on Saturday identified six airmen killed when their KC-135 Stratotanker crashed in western Iraq while supporting Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. campaign with Israel against Iran. The airmen were Maj. John A. Klinner, 33, of Auburn, Ala.; Capt. Ariana G. Savino, 31, of Covington, Wash.; and Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, Ky, who were assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. Also killed were Capt. Seth R. Koval, 38, of Mooresville, Ind.; Capt. Curtis J. Angst, 30, of Wilmington, Ohio; and Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, 28, of Columbus, Ohio, who were assigned to the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Ohio. The refueling aircraft went down in friendly airspace at about 2 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday. The circumstances of the crash remain under investigation, though U.S. Central Command said it was not caused by hostile or friendly fire.
2. U.S. President Donald Trump said that he has demanded that about seven countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, saying the U.S. is negotiating with countries that are heavily reliant on Middle East crude to join a coalition to police the waterway. Meanwhile. Gulf Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, reported new missile or drone attacks after Iran called for the evacuation of three major ports in the United Arab Emirates — the first time it has threatened a neighboring country’s non-U.S. assets.
3. The Pentagon on Friday ordered Marines and amphibious warships toward the Middle East as tensions surge around the Strait of Hormuz and ill effects on global oil supply. The deployment places a Marine rapid response force near the waterway as Iran’s attacks on commercial shipping escalate and U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets widen the conflict. The move gives commanders options for maritime security missions, evacuations, or limited operations without committing large ground forces. “Due to operations security, we do not discuss future or hypothetical movements,” a Defense Department official told Military.com on Friday.
4. Taiwan on Sunday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities around the island after an unexplained absence of more than two weeks that prompted speculation in Taipei as to Beijing's motives. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, normally sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the island on a daily basis, with interruptions generally caused by bad weather. Taiwan's defence ministry, in a daily update on Sunday morning, said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft, concentrated in the Taiwan Strait, over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many on February 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft after saying Beijing was carrying out another "joint combat readiness patrol". From February 27, Taiwan reported no Chinese military aircraft until March 7, when it said it spotted two aircraft to Taiwan's far southwest. There have been only sporadic, small-scale incidents since then.
5. The Pentagon has released a modernization plan for Stars and Stripes that affirms the publication’s independence while expanding Defense Department oversight, introducing new restrictions on content and transitioning away from a print publication. An eight-page memo, dated March 9 and effective immediately, limits the use of wire services, bars comics and other syndicated features and states that content must be consistent with “good order and discipline,” a phrase borrowed from the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The memo is the first formal explanation since Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said in a Jan. 15 social media post that the Defense Department intended to “refocus” the news organization “from woke distractions that syphon morale.”
- Security