Refueling Tankers That Will Be Needed By Israel To Strike Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Will Not Be Delivered Until Late 2024

KC-46 aerial refueling tanker conducts receiver compatibility tests with a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III from Joint Base Lewis-McChord as part of Test 003-06. The event marks the nearing completion of "Milestone C" in the new tanker's developmental testing stage. (U.S. Air Force photo by Christopher Okula). July 12, 2016  

DNYUZ/New York Times: Israel Finds Planes That Could Be Key to a Strike on Iran Badly Back-Ordered 

WASHINGTON — Israel asked the Biden administration last week to speed up the delivery of refueling tankers that could prove critical to striking Iran’s nuclear facilities, but it was told that the aircraft were back-ordered and it was unlikely that its first one would be ready until late 2024, according to U.S. and Israeli officials. 

The Israeli defense minister, Benny Gantz, made the request last week when he met with Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and other senior officials in Washington. Details were reported earlier by Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli newspaper. 

While U.S. officials told Mr. Gantz that they would work to alleviate a production backlog, the timing of the delivery is a crucial issue: Biden administration officials are concerned that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of Israel is trying to revive the threat of a military strike against Iran, after arguing that diplomacy has failed and that the country is closer than ever to a threshold capability of building a nuclear weapon.  

Read more .... 

Update: Report: US tells Israel new tanker jets, key to Iran strike, not coming anytime soon (Times of Israel)  

WNU Editor: This blog pointed out this Israeli weakness yesterday .... Biden Admin Rejects Israel's Call For A Joint Plan To Attack Iran's Nuclear Facilities (December 14, 2021).

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