20+ Air Refueling Tankers Takeoff From USA last night

Source: Hal Turner

Date: June 16, 2025

At around 10:00 PM eastern US time last night, Sunday, June 15, 2025, a total of about twenty-seven (27) KC-135 and other types of air refueling tanker aircraft, took off from multiple US military bases, headed toward Europe.

Below is a partial list of the aircraft that went:

The movement of U.S. tanker aircraft to Europe in June 2025 likely supports NATO exercises "DEFENDER 25" and/or  "Atlantic Trident 25", from June 16-27 in Finland, involving U.S., U.K., French, and Finnish air forces, with confirmed KC-135 tanker participation for aerial refueling. 

By any measure, this is an extraordinary number of air-refueling tankers all moving at what appears to be "the last minute."   Such aircraft are generally the last to go, and they arrive in-theater as an operation is already set to go.

So when these planes landed overnight, they did so very close to "Go" time.

UPDATE: 

Two tankers landed at Aviano Air Base in Italy and three landed in Spain around 3:45 AM EDT this morning.

Four new Pegasus tankers left NJ in the last hour making it a second wave of tankers different than the first 27 I counted but they appear to all be going to different places in Europe for the next few hours.

In the end the result will be the same and he who has the most aircraft with fuel will be much more deadly than missiles coming in.

For every missile that Iran has shot, the US has the same thing in a reusable fighter bomber hence the world's largest refueling fleet besting the rest of the world combined many times over. 

The earliest these tankers can be used would be 10:00 AM EDT after flight servicing and possible fueling of the tankers themselves.