File image.
Iranian state media on May 5 released video footage purported to show the successful interception of a United States Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet.
The footage was released after OSINTdefender, a U.S.-based X account specialized in open-source intelligence with more than two million followers, claimed in a post that an F-15E was shot down over southwestern Iran early on March 4. The account said that an American-Israeli special force carried out a successful raid inside the Islamic Republic to retrieve the pilot and weapon systems officer.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also said in a statement published through its official outlet Sepah News that an F-15E was shot down “near the country’s southeastern border” by the “modern” air defense systems of its Aerospace Division.
The F-15E is a twin-engine, two-seat, all-weather multirole strike fighter derived from the F-15 Eagle, developed for long-range precision ground attacks while retaining strong air-to-air capability, with a top speed over Mach 2.5 and a large weapons payload. A single fighter jet of this type costs upwards of $90 million.
Denying these claims, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) wrote on X that “rumors circulating on social media of a U.S. F-15E crash in Iran early Wednesday [March 4] are baseless and NOT TRUE.”
The footage released by Iranian state media, which was apparently taken by some imaging infrared targeting system, shows a twin tails fighter jet getting hit by what appears to be an anti-aircraft missile.
While the fighter jet was claimed to be an F-15E, the curves of the fuselage suggest that it may have actually been a Soviet-made MiG-29 of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force.
Iranian MiG-29s were spotted flying patrols over the capital, Tehran, shortly after the war on what appears to be a mission to hunt down American and Israeli drones.
Later on March 5, reports of another American aerial loss, this time over Iraq, began to surface, with videos purported to show the parachute of the pilot over the southern city of Basra posted to social networks.
The Iraqi-Kurdish Ruwadow network confirmed soon after the emergence of the videos that authorities launched an operation to locate the pilot, and police later told Al Jazeera that they were looking for an “American pilot” whose fighter jet crashed in the south of the country.
Responding, CENTCOM posted to X saying that “rumors are circulating on social media of a U.S. fighter jet crash over Basra” are “baseless and NOT TRUE.”
The command, however, quickly edited the post, replacing the word “crash” with “shot down.” This was seen by many observers as acknowledgment of an aerial loss.
The U.S. Air Force lost three F-15Es on the third day of the war, March 2, in what CENTCOM later described as a friendly-fire incident over Kuwait. A recent report by The Wall Street Journal revealed that all three fighter jets were shot down by a single Kuwaiti Air Force F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet that was on a drone hunting sortie. Video footage that surfaced online later confirmed this.
In addition, U.S. officials told CBS News on March 6 that three American MQ-9 Reaper drones were lost. The network said that it was not clear where exactly the three drones crashed, but one of the Reapers attempted to crash off the coast of Iran.
In a separate incident, another MQ-9 Reaper was shot down at some point over the last few days by what was believed to be friendly fire from the Qataris, the officials said. The report didn’t clarify if the drone was one of the three lost, or an additional one.
MQ-9 combat drones, which cost upwards of $30 million per a unit, are primarily used to collect intelligence, but have the ability to conduct pinpoint strikes. The advanced drones can operate for more than 27 hours and reach altitudes of over 25,000 feet.
These drones in addition to the three F-15E lost over Kuwait are so far the only confirmed American losses in the ongoing war on Iran. Israeli aerial losses are still unclear, but are believed to be limited to drones. The coming hours or days will likely reveal more details about the recent incidents over southwestern Iran and southern Iraq.
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this is the second go round. where is an effective iranian air defense system?
i would like nato to bomb the traitorous alawites and russians in moscow. i want isis-k to take full control of latakia and tartus and replace the alawites with uzbeks and uyghurs.
5 f15 jets have been shot down.
that’s mig 29
you need to visit an optician.
americunt anuz filled w persian jizz😂
the biggest thing in u.s. inventory are lies, number 2 is excuses. truth is as scarce as hen’s teeth.
iran is in trouble because syrian alawites fled to russia because they took bribes from israel.
iran should definitely send its agents to find these traitors in moscow and liquidate them. along with their families. why should iran be attacked every few months so that alawites can party in moscow and bribe the math faculty to give them degrees and doctorates without knowing math.
this will happen again even if iran gets out of the trap this time.
pay in advance ameropigs.