Fairchild Crews Head To Okinawa

Fairchild Air Force Base has deployed five KC-135 aerial refueling tankers and 35 crew members to Kadena Air Force Base on the Japanese island of Okinawa amid rising tensions between Iraq and the United Nations, Fairchild spokeswoman Lt. Amy Hulten said Tuesday.

The tankers and crew members, who left Washington late Tuesday, will refuel B-52 bombers headed to the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. The bombers are from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

Fairchild also may deploy four KC-135s and 28 crew members to Bahrain to refuel fighter aircraft and bombers flying missions in the Persian Gulf, Hulten said.

Details about that deployment were not released.

Fairchild already has 12 aircraft and nearly 200 crew members at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. They are enforcing a no-fly zone in southern Iraq. The latest tensions were triggered by Baghdad’s expulsion of U.S. members of U.N. arms inspecting teams.

, DataTimes