A U.S. Air Force F-15 Strike Eagle.
Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Two American combat planes were shot down by Iran on Friday, the first time that has happened in the five-week war. An F-15E fighter jet was shot down over southern Iran, it’s two crewmembers ejected, and the pilot was later rescued by American forces. The whereabouts and condition of the plane’s weapon systems officer is unknown, and a U.S. combat search-and-rescue operation continues. An A-10 Warthog taking part in those operations was also damaged by Iranian fire. The pilot was able to fly back to Kuwaiti airspace, where they ejected safely, and the plane crashed.
According to U.S. officials who spoke with CBS News, two U.S. military helicopters recovered the F-15E pilot from inside Iran. The helicopter carrying the pilot was then struck by small arms fire, wounding crewmembers, but it was able to fly to Iraq and land safely. NBC News reports that two helicopters participating in the search-and-rescue operation were struck by Iranian fire, but the crews were safe.
Video footage has emerged purportedly showing Iranian authorities firing on U.S. helicopters with what sound like automatic rifles. It’s not clear if these are the same helicopters that recovered the F-15E pilot.
President Trump refused to comment on the search during a phone interview with NBC News but said it would not affect attempted negotiations between the two countries. (That may not matter, as U.S. intelligence has reportedly assessed that the regime isn’t willing to engage in them right now anyway.)
Israel suspended its air strikes against Iran on account of the U.S. search-and-rescue operations. The U.S. did not.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are searching for the missing airman, too. And annoucements were made on state television offering a reward to any Iranian that turned the servicemembers in.
Footage shared via social media on Friday showed low-flying search-and-rescue helicopters and a refueling aircraft operating over southern Iran.
Iranian media has shared apparent images of wreckage and an intact ejection seat from an F-15E Strike Eagle on the ground:
While the fate of the remaining missing crewmember is not yet clear, the incident could have implications for the whole war:
The incident also exposes the risks American aircrews still face in the skies over Iran. President Trump, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other administration officials have repeatedly boasted about how defenseless Iran is against U.S. airpower. “They have no anti-aircraft equipment. Their radar is 100 percent annihilated. We are unstoppable as a military force,” Trump said during his national address on Wednesday night. Pentagon officials like the Joint Chiefs chairman, General Dan Caine, have maintained that the U.S. has air superiority over Iran, which means aircrews face limited threats, as opposed to air supremacy, which means no threats at all.
As The Wall Street Journal points out, there have been some other near misses for American and Israeli pilots in Iranian airspace during the war:
The loss of a U.S. jet fighter on Friday followed more than a month of war during which American and Israeli pilots carried out more than 20,000 air strikes without having a single plane shot down over Iran, despite a number of near misses. A U.S. F-35A was damaged during a combat mission over Iran on March 19. The pilot suffered shrapnel wounds. Sixteen MQ-9 drones also have been shot down.
Israel has disclosed near misses for some of its pilots, including narrowly avoiding being shot down by Iranian air-defense missiles.
U.S. planes involved in the war have been shot down or destroyed outside of Iran several times. Three American F-15s were shot down on the second day of the war in a friendly fire incident involving the Kuwaiti military. All of the pilots and their back-seaters ejected safely.
According to the Pentagon, 13 U.S. servicemembers have been killed in the war, and an additional 365 servicemembers have been injured.
This post has been updated.
