Rare loss in Iran war: Iran shoots down U.S. F-15E jet after strikes

The downing of a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle over Iran marked a rare moment in the Iran war, the Associated Press reported, as Iran shot down American jets after weeks of U.S. and Israeli strikes that the Trump administration said had dramatically reduced Tehran’s capabilities. In the account, Iran’s action came against a backdrop of repeated missile and drone attacks in the region that have continued even as U.S. forces have kept up a high tempo of air operations.

The AP said Iran shot down two American military jets, with the Friday loss including an F-15E fighter. AP reported that one service member was rescued and that the search was still under way for a second crew member. Iranian state media also said an A-10 attack aircraft crashed after being hit by Iranian defense forces, according to the AP report.

In Washington, U.S. Central Command described the scale of the air campaign in operational terms. The AP reported that Central Command said American forces have flown more than 13,000 missions in the Iran war while striking more than 12,300 targets. The AP said those strikes came about five weeks after U.S. and Israeli strikes first pounded Iran, with President Donald Trump asserting earlier this week that Tehran’s ability to launch missiles and drones was “dramatically curtailed.”

While the United States has continued attacking large numbers of targets, the AP emphasized that the downing of a U.S. fighter by enemy fire has been exceedingly rare. Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Houston Cantwell, a former F-16 fighter pilot, told the AP that the last time a U.S. warplane was shot down by enemy fire in combat was an A-10 Thunderbolt II during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Cantwell also said that the absence of more losses earlier reflected different conditions, including that the U.S. had largely been fighting insurgents without the same anti-aircraft capabilities, and he said the lack of earlier losses in Iran has been a testament to U.S. capabilities.

In Cantwell’s view, the recent loss carried a particular meaning because U.S. aircraft are still flying combat missions that are “being shot at every day.” He described the timing as an “absolute miracle,” telling the AP, “We’re flying combat missions here, they are being shot at every day.” He also said the fact that the downing had not happened until now reflected the operational realities of flying missions in a high-threat environment.

Other experts cited by the AP pointed to how degraded does not always mean destroyed—especially for air defenses. Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said there is a distinction between air superiority and air supremacy. Taleblu told the AP: “A disabled air defense system is not a destroyed air defense system.” He added, “We shouldn’t be shocked that they’re still fighting.”

The AP report said experts expected Iran to have used a type of missile attack that is difficult to detect early. Taleblu said American planes have been flying missions at lower altitudes, which he said makes them more vulnerable to Iran’s missiles. He told the AP it was possible Iran fired at the F-15 with a surface-to-air missile, but that it was more likely a portable, shoulder-fired missile was used—an approach he said is “much harder to detect” and fits how Iran can appear “weak but still lethal.” Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and defense adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, agreed with the likely use of a shoulder-fired missile against the fighter jet.

The AP report also placed the loss in context of how U.S. personnel are trained to respond if a jet is hit. Cantwell, in the AP account, said pilots in high-threat environments such as missions over Iran see their blood pressure rise and become highly alert to incoming missiles, which he said can be infrared- or radar-guided and call for different evasive tactics. If a pilot must eject, he said aviators are trained on what to do next, including checking for wounds after a violent ejection and communicating their location so rescuers can find them—even as the enemy may try to intercept or spoof communications.

In addition, the AP said the incident was not the first time U.S. crews had been lost in the Iran theater. It reported that a military helicopter and airplane exploded in 1980 during an aborted mission to rescue American hostages at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The AP also said that, across recent decades, more U.S. helicopters have been shot down than other aircraft, citing examples including a MH-47 Army Chinook struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in Afghanistan in 2005. Cantwell said helicopters are more at risk because “the lower and the slower, the more susceptible you are,” and he described the rescue efforts tied to this week’s downing as “such a brave and honorable act.”