A loss of an E-3 would be a major blow for the dwindling fleet of increasingly rickety airframes and would point to other capability and defensive gaps.

Apart from the AWACS platform, several KC-135 aerial refuelling tankers are also believed to have sustained damage in the attack. Reports suggest that over a dozen US personnel were injured, highlighting the scale and intensity of the strike despite existing air defence systems.

Iran reportedly hits E-3 Sentry flying radars, which track drones, missiles, aircraft from hundreds of kilometres away.

The attack, carried out on March 27, also damaged aerial refuelling aircraft and injured more than 10 US service members, two of them seriously.

An Iranian strike in Saudi Arabia destroyed a US Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS from Oklahoma's Tinker Air Force Base.