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F-15E jet shot down over Iran

theguardian.com

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Re: F-15E jet shot down over Iran

#171

Post by estearum »

fooey wrote: post #164
roadbuster wrote: post #116

During the entire gulf war (Iraq, 1990-91), only two F-15s were shot down via surface-to-air engagement. At the time, Baghdad was known to have the highest density of SAM protection out of any city in the world. An F-15 being shot down in Iran after weeks of strategic bombing of their anti-air defense systems is not a good sign.

The latest reporting is that only 50% of Iran's missile capacity has been destroyed https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/02/politics/iran-missiles-us-mil... Doesn't break out anti-air, but Iran absolutely has a lot of teeth left.

Seems to me their strategy is to shut down the Strait as cheaply as possible, force ground operations on known strategic points of interest, then just missile and drone strike Americans in Iranian territory where they have ~no air defense.

Re: F-15E jet shot down over Iran

#172

Post by markus_zhang »

verdverm wrote: post #159
asdff wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iran has systems they can pull out of a cave and deploy in a couple hours or less. We will never get all their anti air out.

With the altitudes they've been flying at, shoulder mounted MANPADs are a viable option.

If you go over 3000m then manpads are not useful I think.

Re: F-15E jet shot down over Iran

#173

Post by guzfip »

dragonwriter wrote: post #106
ceejayoz wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And CENTCOM's lying about it. https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2039805134704660622

The US military is in the middle of a top-level political purge; both honesty and competence as an institution will be below normal levels for the forseeable future, and honesty about sensitive operations during wartime is never much even as a baseline.

What’s the buzz like amongst military right now? Is moral low? High?

It’s been fascinating to see my Father (Marine and Army veteran) and my brother (soon be a commissioned Air Force officer) who usually are very aligned politically start develop the first rift I’ve ever seen regarding this war.

Re: F-15E jet shot down over Iran

#174

Post by verdverm »

markus_zhang wrote: post #172
verdverm wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the altitudes they've been flying at, shoulder mounted MANPADs are a viable option.

If you go over 3000m then manpads are not useful I think.

Sure, but there are videos of US war planes strafing, like that near hit clip.

Re: F-15E jet shot down over Iran

#175

Post by gherkinnn »

asdff wrote: post #147
roadbuster wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They certainly have, but the general idea is to first use stealth jets to bomb defensive systems (including radar observability) to conquer the skies, and then you can fly around somewhat freely. While SAM technology has improved, so have America's observability and stealth bombing capabilities. It will be interesting to learn the context and sequence of events which led to an F-15 being shot down by enemy fire. (In…

Turns out Iran is good at hiding stuff in caves and driving it out on a truck platform. Who would have known?

Next you're going to tell me that operating out of your own mountainous terrain has an advantage.

Re: F-15E jet shot down over Iran

#176

Post by hunter-gatherer »

croes wrote: post #64
MarkMarine wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, we actually train to be tortured and held if caught, but everyone knows the risks before you take off. Captured marines or soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, we’re clear eyed about it.

And lied to about the reasons of the war. Now they even lie about it being a war, while they claim they have already won the war, that isn’t a war.

As he said. Military members are pretty clear eyed about things.

Re: F-15E jet shot down over Iran

#177

Post by verdverm »

dmix wrote: post #170
verdverm wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the altitudes they've been flying at, shoulder mounted MANPADs are a viable option.

US also has A-10s doing gun runs in Iraq too. It makes sense the US is more willing to take risks 1-month into the war given how effective they've been and for Iran to also adapt their manpad teams after they probably failed a ton of times previously. You saw the same pattern where Ukraine and Russia both constantly adapted on the battlefield and the war changed rapidly over the first year.

Waiting to see the Shaheds with AA missiles like Russia was using (until their starlink was finally shut off late last year)

Re: F-15E jet shot down over Iran

#178

Post by dmix »

verdverm wrote: post #167
dmix wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty normal for planes to go down in a war. They've flown 5000+ sorties, it's a pretty huge accomplishment this is the first one lost over Iran. Especially considering all of the last decade's speculation about how tough attacking Iran would be. You'll never be able to fully suppress all of their manpads. Even if you destroy the bulk of their air defence network.

First to go down in Iran, but a surprising amount of attritions thus far - 3x F-15 friendly fire - 2x KC-130 refuel mid air collision (1 loss, 1 damaged) - 1x F-35 damaged - 1x AEWACs base strike - 3x KC-130 base strike (same) - 1x F-15 (this one) 2-3 a week is not great for the greatest military, more than half attributable to Iran. With 300+ US casualties, that's ~10/day, a fatality every ~2 days. No boots on the g…

You must not have read about all the hype Iran had before the war and before 2024 especially. The US airforce/navy has performed extremely well. In Desert Storm they lost far, far more aircraft and that only lasted 1.5 months (Iran is 1 month in). Even the ballistic missile strikes against Israel haven't been exceptionally notable, considering Iran is going full-bore and has thousands of ballistic/cruise missiles and drones. They should be able to do much more to regional military bases.

The main issues with this war are strategic questions and people mocking the presidents inconsistent communication. But otherwise for an air campaign this has been about as good as one could expect - within the limits of what an air-only campaign can do.

Re: F-15E jet shot down over Iran

#180

Post by fooey »

roadbuster wrote: post #116

During the entire gulf war (Iraq, 1990-91), only two F-15s were shot down via surface-to-air engagement. At the time, Baghdad was known to have the highest density of SAM protection out of any city in the world. An F-15 being shot down in Iran after weeks of strategic bombing of their anti-air defense systems is not a good sign.

New reporting that an A-10 ~was also shot down~ has also gone down (unconfirmed if it was shot down)

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04/03/world/iran-war-trump...

> A second Air Force combat plane crashed in the Persian Gulf region on Friday, and the lone pilot was safely rescued, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. The A-10 Warthog attack plane went down near the Strait of Hormuz about the same time that an Air Force F-15E was shot down over Iran, the officials said. In that incident, one crew member was rescued and search-and-rescue operators are looking for the second airman. Officials provided scant details about the A-10 crash, including how and where it happened.

there's some additional osint rumor mill that a blackhawk helicopter involved in rescue operations was also shot down but claims that crew been recovered

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