Russia had 14 satellites fly over the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, used by the US, in the days before Iran‘s 27 March 2026 strike on the base. The strike involved at least one missile and several drones. It destroyed a US AWACS surveillance plane and other US military equipment.
One of the Russian satellites, Cosmos 2573, has synthetic-aperture radar capable of imaging through cloud cover and darkness. It flew over the base two days before the strike. The satellites also provided Iran targeting information on other occasions during the war, including for a strike that damaged a CIA facility in Riyadh.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky separately said Russia had shared satellite imagery of the base with Iran. He said Ukrainian intelligence briefings showed Russian satellites imaging it on 20, 23 and 25 March.
Efforts Category: Russia’s Military Support of Iran (2026, wartime)
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