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F-15E jet shot down over Iran
https://theaviationist.com/2026/04/03/iran-f-15e-debris/ https://theaviationist.com/2026/04/03/iran-f-15e-debris/
- ChrisArchitect 6mo ago[dupe] Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47626347 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47626347 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47627182 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47627182
- gus_massa 6mo agodang moved the comment from those threads to here, so the discussion is empty. I'm not sure if the press coverage has more info. (My guess is that they are quite similar.)
- ChrisArchitect 6mo agoYep, fair, this one probably just on front page at present. At the time of commenting, one of those two links was flagged, and this one was also freshly flagged, so the Earlier one was still active and available is all. Things change.
- ChrisArchitect 6mo ago[flagged]
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- roadbuster 6mo agoDuring 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.
- flowerthoughts 6mo agoSurely SAMs have improved since 1991? Have the F-15s improved significantly? (I know nothing about military stuff.)
- roadbuster 6mo agoThey 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 1991, the United States relied on the F-117 Nighthawk to penetrate Baghdad and launch salvos against radar and SAM sites. Simultaneously, Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired against similar communication and defense sites. In this war with Iran, the F-35 and B-2 have been used for stealth missions).
- asdff 6mo agoTurns out Iran is good at hiding stuff in caves and driving it out on a truck platform. Who would have known?
- gherkinnn 6mo agoNext you're going to tell me that operating out of your own mountainous terrain has an advantage.
- asdff 6mo agoWould be news to the US military it seems. Mountains, jungles, who would have thought?
- acdha 6mo agoThis isn’t unexpected for anyone in the actual military: they’ve planned for this for decades. A couple of friends served in the previous war and they mentioned that this is what their training exercises were like: same enemy, same difficulty.
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- victorbjorklund 6mo agoIf true I can’t imagine it will play well even among Trumps base. When was the last time a US fighter jet was shot down? 1999 during the intervention in the balkans?
- panarky 6mo agoYou overestimate the base. The war machine is already rewriting this as Iranian hostility. The base is incapable of seeing this as a failure of their cult leader. Instead they'll see it as the very rationale and justification of the war. If they were ambivalent about it before, now they'll scream bloody murder for even more off-the-leash barbarism from the US and Israel.
- kelnos 6mo agoHonestly it seems like the only thing Trump's base cares about is the price of gasoline. They don't give a shit about what's actually happening in the war.
- technothrasher 6mo agoFrom the MAGA folks I know, they don't even care about the price of gasoline. That was when Biden was president. Now they have excuses. All they really seem to care about is whatever they're currently told to care about by the administration.
- butlike 6mo agoWhy are you helping them galvanize? Let them come up with their own raison d'etre.
- LAC-Tech 6mo agoTrump has a loyal hardcore, but he is absolutely bleeding supporters around the edges. If you follow the US right many of them are pledging to vote democrat in the midterms as a protest.
- 6mo ago
- JohnTHaller 6mo agoLet's hope Iran doesn't follow the "no quarter, no mercy" policy laid out by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. For the unfamiliar, it means executing survivors and surrendering combatants. Aka war crimes.
- jLaForest 6mo ago[flagged]
- partiallypro 6mo ago[flagged]
- asadotzler 6mo ago[flagged]
- partiallypro 6mo ago
- Rover222 6mo ago[flagged]
- jjice 6mo agoWhat makes them credible? Not doubting, just curious.
- dredmorbius 6mo agoGiven that 8 hours after your comment mainstream news sites are still reporting on ongoing SAR ops for the 2nd F-15 crewmember, it's likely those stories were false or confounded recovery of an A-10 pilot (also downed, separate incident) today. <https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/apr/04/middle-east-crisis-live-us-iran-war-missing-pilot-downed-jet-israel-bombards-beirut https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/apr/04/middle-ea...> (Live updates at The Guardian, as of 15 minutes prior to my own comment.)
- Rover222 6mo agoYeah i was wrong on that one, I think the X noise at the time as about the A-10 pilot that had been rescued.
- dredmorbius 5mo agoAhead of your time, as the 2nd crew member was eventually rescued. <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/5/us-rescues-airman-whose-f-15-was-downed-in-iran-trump-confirms https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/5/us-rescues-airman-wh...>
- sokitsip 6mo agoWhy is the US there again? Open up a straight that was open? Not expecting a reply.
- butlike 6mo agoTo distract from the Epstein files.
- 8b16380d 6mo agoIsrael
- kiviuq 6mo agoSweet AIPAC money
- TheDong 6mo agoThe opinion in https://acoup.blog/2026/03/25/miscellanea-the-war-in-iran/ https://acoup.blog/2026/03/25/miscellanea-the-war-in-iran/ is interesting here. Read the section titled 'The Gamble' if you want that opinion, but the tl;dr is that our 2025 strike against Iran ceded our ability to claim dis-involvement in Israeli strikes, and so Israel was able to draw us into this war whether we wanted to or not.
- sph 6mo ago[flagged]
- llm_nerd 6mo ago[flagged]
- solid_fuel 6mo ago[flagged]
- amysox 6mo ago[flagged]
- standardUser 6mo agoVia the NYT: Mohammad Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament and a key government figure overseeing the war, took to social media to mock the Trump administration as U.S. forces searched for a missing American airman from a downed fighter plane. “This brilliant no-strategy war they started has now been downgraded from ‘regime change’ to ‘Hey! Can anyone find our pilots? Please?’”he said in a post on X. “Wow. What incredible progress. Absolute geniuses.”
- einpoklum 6mo ago[flagged]
- zaelochi 6mo agoAverage comments sentiment when an American is caught having killed a clerk during a robbery: hope they fry him on the chair Average comments sentiment when an American is caught while bombing bridges and elementary schools: poor thing hope they treat him well
- MarchApril 6mo agoI'm sure many Japanese watching the Pearl Harbor movie didn't want the American pilots to survive after nuking 2 cities either.
- i_love_retros 6mo agoReally struggling to make sense of this comment, is it just me?
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- Revanche1367 6mo agoThe key difference (which I am sure you are aware of) is that the victims in your second scenario are foreign brown people. The comments would be very much like your first scenario if this was about Russians attacking even military targets in Ukraine for example.
- tim333 6mo agoAmerican sentiment seems fine with killing invading Russians. I don't think it's a skin color thing that much.
- torlok 6mo agoThe military propaganda in the US is so strong that it doesn't matter how many innocent lives US soldiers take, even the staunchest US liberals will thank the troops because "just following orders" or "poverty draft".
- thatmf 6mo agoIs this not just FAFO?
- soupfordummies 6mo agoAt what point is congress gonna grow a spine and retake their power? Every day the goalposts just get moved a little farther.
- varispeed 6mo agoIf everyone is somewhat implicated in Epstein files, then everyone is afraid of Putin / Netanyahu who might pull up the files. It's funny how they are so scared to face justice, but also interesting how American law enforcement became so corrupt. Protecting pedos on such a scale?
- pfannkuchen 6mo agoThere's a very strange problem with this whole thing where, of course, whatever these powerful people have done behind closed doors that is illegal and exploitative and harmful is terrible and they should be put to justice. However, if the direction of the country is being seriously altered via blackmail, IMO that is many orders of magnitude worse than anything they could have done. Like we are currently bombing yet another middle eastern country for no clear reason. I would personally be open to some kind of Epstein jubilee where we absolve everyone involved in order to nullify the blackmail. Like it's not great, it's terrible for the victims and for justice, but at the moment we are getting terrible from both ends, could we at least reduce it to one end?
- pjc50 6mo agoThat creates a far worse problem down the line because they will just do it again, more publicly. Really the rot set in with the pardons of Nixon and Oliver North.
- pfannkuchen 6mo agoCan you justify that assertion? How would they do it again, more publicly? It's not like a blackmail ring is that easy to set up, it seems to have taken a lot of heavy lifting to get this one going.
- Ms-J 6mo agoMaybe they shouldn't be attacking Iran? Duhhhhhh.
- mwizamwiinga 6mo ago[flagged]
- markus_zhang 6mo agoI think an A-10 is also down (pilot ejected and safe). I'm surprised that they decided to fly an A-10 into Iran. I mean it's a solid plane that can sustain some AD fire, but at the same time it usually operates within the height that MANPADs can reach.
- torlok 6mo agoConsidering the number of friendly fire incidents these moronic planes cause, Iran would probably be better off leaving them be.
- hajile 6mo agoAll CAS can cause friendly fire, but that doesn't remove the need for CAS. The A-10 flies slower and closer than our fighter jets which means they have more time to assess the situation before taking action.
- bigyabai 6mo agoThe A-10 will be cited in every future American CAS program as the reason FLIR is built-in. Deserved or not, the aircraft earned it's reputation.
- DASD 6mo agoList of aviation shootdowns and accidents during the 2026 Iran war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aviation_shootdowns_and_accidents_during_the_2026_Iran_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aviation_shootdowns_an... Iran: 40, Israel: 18, US: 36, Others: 7
- tasn 6mo agoIt's a bit weird counting drones in the same list as expensive fighter jets (and other expensive planes).
- DASD 6mo agoMQ-9s are ~$30 million USD and are strike capable.
- tasn 6mo agoSure. But looking at all of the downed Israeli crafts, they are all $2-5m drones (all 18 of them). For perspective: Patriot missiles cost $4m each.
- underdeserver 6mo agoIt's not just about cost - a $2m drone and a $200m drone can both be sacrificed if cost/benefit analysis merits it. You don't sacrifice pilots, ever.
- DASD 6mo agoThe two(2) H450s are in that unit cost range. The others and the Heron variants range to $40 million. A not insignificant number of Iranian aircraft(such as the US-produced F-5s and C-130s acquired before 1979's Revolution) are low unit costs comparably to the UAVs("drones") lost here. Attrition compared to US materiel(not material - although that too greatly burdens cost to the US) depletion such as the aforementioned Patriot does not favor the US for sustained operations in theater(let alone should a second theater contingency operation occur).
- alchemism 6mo agocough and an A10
- zoklet-enjoyer 6mo agoOh well, it was bound to happen. We need to get the Hell out of there.
- epolanski 6mo agoThe only way Trump can save face is by doubling down, which is what Iran is waiting for.
- voganmother42 6mo agoOn cue, trump is making threats again
- epolanski 6mo ago> A particular concern, they said, was threats made by the US to Iran’s energy infrastructure. “International law protects from attack objects indispensable to the survival of civilians, and the attacks threatened by Trump, if implemented, could entail war crimes.” I am not going to lie, I am beyond disgusted at the United States. And the "it's Trump" card doesn't work, Americans defend this travesty of an old non functioning constitution.
- rootusrootus 6mo agoIt was a pretty solid setup when everyone wanted it to succeed. We will get a few more safeties put in place via statute after this experience, of course, but what really needs to happen is meaningful improvements to the Constitution. We know enough now to spot plenty of weak points which could be addressed. When I'm feeling particularly spicy I think a Constitutional Convention would be seriously awesome. But then I think of the possible outcomes and I'm not so sure. Were the majority of the population acting in good faith, I'd feel better about it.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 6mo agoThe bulk of our politicians are fully corrupt, and you believe there could be a positive outcome for rewriting the constitution?
- rootusrootus 6mo agoI thought I made it clear that I don't generally think that would be a good idea. I think it would be interesting, which I sometimes think might be worth the risk. Certainly discontent with the status quo is a broadly held sentiment not at all unique to the current right wing.
- unethical_ban 6mo agoThere is no easy way out of this mess. There has to be some faith in the overall good will of the people, but if Russia and other societies are any indicator in a modern world, it will take the US getting a lot shittier, with more people dying in protests, more people losing their careers and their homes, and the middle class in breadlines. We need a different voting system, we need the structure of Congress gutted, and we need a far less powerful presidency.
- solid_fuel 6mo agoI'm an American and a patriot and the way I want to see this end is with Pete Hegseth and others from this nightmare administration delivered to the Hague, in chains.
- cosmicgadget 6mo agoThat Kuwaiti F-18 pilot is a bit far from home.
- dlev_pika 6mo agoSecond one in 24hrs…and that’s with their “anti-air defenses destroyed”, per our Commander in Chief
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- LightBug1 6mo agoDon't worry. It's ok. Just think ... Top Gun Maverick.
- dayyan 6mo ago[flagged]
- hereme888 6mo agoIran, who armed itself to the teeth, shoots down a 30-yr-old fighter jet. Crew expected to have survived. Acceptable win ratio for the U.S. (whom many of you despise).
- elendilm 6mo agoNice try downplaying the Iranian capabilities.
- Ylpertnodi 6mo ago> Acceptable win ratio for the U.S. (whom many of you despise). No. Many people despise the trump administration, not the US.
- cap11235 6mo agoShhh, don't interrupt their persecution complex
- tejohnso 6mo agoImpossible. Iran's army was already demolished weeks ago, and there's "nothing left". What did they take it down with, bb guns?
- torlok 6mo agoThey took a page from the US administration playbook and manifested a victory into existence.
- tim333 6mo agoThe whole thing is impressively disorganised going back to not having a clear objective or plan for the war.
- bean469 6mo agoSince their military capacity is certainly completely demolished, they probably took it down by throwing rocks
- hirako2000 6mo agoSame as what happened to that Ford aircraft carrier, some fire incident in the kitchen that was. I doubt aircrafts have a kitchen yet, but toilets could catch fire, right ?
- eek2121 6mo agoI see a ton of bickering, however, I simply have to ask the question: how can anyone justify the United States of America and Israel attacking ANY country? It isn't our job, nor is it Israel's, to try and be the world police. People are dying, and because of a certain corpse-to-be controlling MY country, the world is beginning to suffer and it is going to get so much worse. Some economists are saying gas rationing will begin happening within the next 9-15 months. Iran has NO incentive to be diplomatic. On top of that, invisible damage that nobody is reporting about is being done...damage that could last years or possibly decades to very small, yet super important parts of the world supply chain that powers everything from fertilizer to pharmaceuticals. There is not a single person in the world that should be supporting this war. I don't care what your beliefs are. The results WILL affect you, and you won't get a bailout.
- anonymou2 6mo ago[flagged]
- mhb 6mo ago[flagged]
- UncleOxidant 6mo agoSaying "Death to America" doesn't give us the right to bomb them. They've been saying that for a long time now and yet haven't posed serious threat to the US mainland. Trump says a lot of crazy shit as well, would that give other countries the right to bomb the US?
- AnonyMD 6mo agoAlthough Iran is a tenacious nation, the United States is weakening. The United States of the past would not have made such a mistake.
- fosk 6mo agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_F-117A_shootdown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_F-117A_shootdown
- croes 6mo agoThe made the same mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan
- worik 6mo agoIraq and Afghanistan were mistakes. But this is next level. When it started I thought Iran would be crushed. Ignorant, silly me. There is every chance the USA will have to stop its attacks before achieving any goals. An education, thus is, that I could do without. In New Zealand we will probably run out of diesel soon. This is so stupid, so sadistic and cruel
- woah 6mo agoOnly one of the combatants is shooting at civilian shipping
- worik 6mo agoBoth are shooting at civilians
- Ylpertnodi 6mo agoOnly one of the combatants is bombing girls schools.
- shevy-java 6mo agoOne less to bomb schools with girls. I feel that the current war is by far the most closest to showing to people that this war is waged by the rich. Because they are the primary ones to benefit right now (if we ignore Netanyahu, but Netanyahu's war goals "make sense", e. g. this is done for expansion and/or control; Trump's involvement makes no real sense, except for benefitting some with insider trading and making other cronies rich).
- bijowo1676 6mo agoit shows that the US is occupied by the rich people and regular people have absolutely zero say
- Ylpertnodi 6mo ago> but Netanyahu's war goals "make sense", e. g. this is done for expansion and/or control; Oh, I thought it was to stop the Iranians having nuclear weapons "in the next few weeks".
- 1970-01-01 6mo agoAny rescue operation is technically 'boots on the ground'
- thatsfunnylol 6mo agoThe Hormuz issue proves that the west never had an ability to economically sanction Iran, au contraire Iran can actually sanction us - and they are. This is what real sanctions look like. The west broke the deal, attacked like terrorists, and are now being sanctioned.
- glidefarrow 6mo agoCorrection - Israel and the US broke the deal, and now the rest of us in the west are also being sanctioned
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- veltas 6mo ago"The West", don't lump us all in.
- partypartywoo 6mo ago[flagged]
- bigyabai 6mo agoI hope they pay you well to post propaganda, you sound like a deeply unhappy person.
- angry_octet 6mo agoThat's not what a sanction is. Iran has been subjected to sanctions for a number of decades.
- hirako2000 6mo agoWhich they will remember. The lumped west may now get sanctioned for the decades to come.
- lejalv 6mo agoSo how is this not flagged, whereas this other post lasted literally minutes before being flagged? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47612053 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47612053 75000+ palestinians killed, arguably one of the defining crimes of our age are not worth HN discussion (“politics”) but one F15E shot down in a war of choice is (apparently, “tech”)?
- iririririr 6mo ago[dead]
- cenamus 6mo agoYou don't see anything about Russias invasion either. 1.5 million casualties and counting.
- itsthecourier 6mo agothat's exactly my perspective on it. it's not about the ukranian, sudanese, Syrian, Irani or Yemeni. those lives seem to be way less worthy of press judging for the coverage the left want to put in Palestinian people. it doesn't follow the principle of equal value on lives but a political agenda and mountains of useful trend followers
- ranyume 6mo agoLet's not confuse things. One thing is lives lost at a war, another thing is lives lost at a genocide.
- watwut 6mo agoOne is victim if genocide. Other us someone who attempted genocide and was stopped by force.
- bigyabai 6mo agoUnlike Ukraine, Yemen, Syria and Sudan, the United States has been involved in the Gaza war since Day 1. It's not that the deaths are more valuable, it's that those are the civilian deaths the United States is most-culpable for.
- up2isomorphism 6mo agoLLM won’t help.
- anovikov 6mo agoThe scale of American air dominance is best demonstrated by how much of a news this event is. In 1999 the scandal was that Serbs managed to shoot down a stealthy plane with then-30 year old Soviet SAM. Now being able to shoot down a nonstealthy one having most modern Russian SAMs in existence is news worthy of being on every screen for 24 hours and collecting 1000+ comments on HN. Warplanes are disposable. They are built to be shot down. If they aren't, they are not being used intensely enough or are just wrong tools for the job - a warplane that flies a mission and always comes back is like a test that never fails.
- ulrischa 6mo agoThere were thousands of iranian jets shot down but the worlds go crazy when a single us jetzt was shot down
- thorio 6mo agoYour English is good, but the (probably smartphone keyboard) typo revealed you :-).
- gapan 6mo agoAt this point why not make it millions? Millions of Iranian jets have been shot down! It sounds better.
- samus 6mo agoUS jets are massively more expensive and supposed to represent the state of the art. While the models used by Iran are considered to be museum pieces by any country that can afford more modern ones. Much more relevant to the current conflict is that it invalidates the claim that Iran's air defense capabilities are gone.
- elendilm 6mo agoIran doesn't have thousands of jets dumbass
- Muskoxworks 6mo agoWhen China or Russia manage to produce air defence that is truly a risk for US/Nato, it will truly change the power dynamics.
- oort-cloud9 6mo ago[dead]
- nkbjgvnm 6mo agoGood. Americans need to pay a very severe price for the evil they have unleased on the world. Anything less, and this lunacy will happen again in the future.
- chakintosh 6mo agoThe United States will never understand that while they are a technologically advanced army, they will consistently get smoked by countries with a far more rudimentary arsenal. It's been happening in every war since Vietnam. The US could probably steamroll Russia in a week, because both countries will try to deploy the latest tech they have, and the US blows Russia out of the water. But in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia ... etc, their stealth jets and raptors stand no chance with weapons so old that those new systems didn't even account for.
- elendilm 6mo agoUS is not a technologically advanced army just the most expensive one. Centralized systems are not technologically advanced systems. Iran's distributed architecture makes it technically advanced than US not to mention hypersonics which is a technology US doesn't have.
- _DeadFred_ 6mo agoThe US rescored both crew from this aircraft while Iran's distributed architecture was dedicated to finding them within it's own country.
- elendilm 6mo agoLosing 2 Black Hawks & 1 C-130 and others. Why are you deliberately trying to hide the details. And what has it to do with distributed architectures. You must not be good at what you do.
- _DeadFred_ 6mo agoThe 'superior' distributed architecture you hyped failed to capture even one of the two individuals in their territory, and failed to a non-distributed centralized world spanning synchronized architecture. I was simply pointing out your superior model failed. The model you hyped has no military benefit, it only serves to act as 'terror cells'. In this case lobing missiles at civilian shipping/civilian infrastructure in neighboring countries. The important information was the US was able to rescue their people, loss of equipment doesn't matter. When we removed Bin Laden we lost an helicopter. Equipment loses that don't degrade our capabilities don't matter to the US. There were ZERO American casualties in an operation in Iran, where the USA basically setup their own airfield, and Iranian forces tried to engage.
- Bloating 6mo agoWhat would happen if you organized a No Kings rally in Iran?
- Ylpertnodi 6mo agoThe current US administration would up the choppers-ante, and warthog the anti-current no king [trump] protesters. The Iranians would probably provide tea, biscuits and free medical.
- hirako2000 6mo agoAs a matter of facts there are frequent massive gatherings in the streets of Iran's, against the U.S. and the U.S military has been bombing those protests. It doesn't make the news of course, as it would be admitting the exact opposite of a regime change is taking place in Iran.
- 0dayman 6mo agonot the first, won't be the last
- CrzyLngPwd 6mo agoImagine ejecting from your plane over Iran because Israel told Trump to do the things he said he wouldn't do. What a waste of life and energy.
- glass1122 6mo ago[dead]
- jimnotgym 6mo agoI feel for the pilot and his family. This is more bad news. No good can come from this war.
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- zoklet-enjoyer 6mo ago[flagged]
- hirako2000 6mo ago[flagged]
- nmbrskeptix 6mo agoTo unpoison y'alls priors, I want to remind HN that in the Kosovo air campaign, the Yugoslavs took out a nighthawk (F117) and an F16. They claimed more nighthawks that limped home. The F117 is a very stealthy plane, given its geometry (flat panels). Yet a 1960s radar with essentially no digital equipment took it out, largely using human intelligence and guerrilla tactics. Iran has modern digital electronics (to improve the signal to noise ratio, merge different data sources, etc) and modern electronics. They are also master guerrilla fighters and have, great, native missile technology. Iranian airspace is contested at best. We certainly do not have air superiority over it.
- diordiderot 6mo ago[flagged]
- nmbrskeptix 6mo ago[dead]
- rcbdev 6mo agoThank you! I find it generally distasteful how often the media seems to memory hole the Yugoslav Wars. We've already seen this in 2022 with many pundits claiming that the war in Ukraine is the 'first armed military conflict in Europe since WW2' - which is just blatantly false in this context.
- nycdatasci 6mo agoThere’s a lot of speculation about how this was achieved, but little mention of the likely weapon system that was used: https://israel-alma.org/the-growing-air-defense-capabilities-of-hezbollah-and-iranian-proxies-an-emerging-threat-to-israel-and-the-west/ https://israel-alma.org/the-growing-air-defense-capabilities... The SA-67 is essentially a hybrid surface-to-air missile and loitering drone that operates like an airborne mine. It’s a pretty innovative weapon: instead of relying on a fast, highly detectable rocket motor, it uses a small gas turbine and passive infrared seeker to silently loiter in a combat zone and then ambush aircraft without ever triggering their traditional radar warning receivers.
- Betelbuddy 6mo agoIran purchased the Verba: "Iran Secretly Purchased Verba MANPADS From Russia for $589 Million" - https://militarnyi.com/en/news/iran-secretly-purchased-verba-manpads-from-russia-for-589-million/ https://militarnyi.com/en/news/iran-secretly-purchased-verba... and they have the Misagh-3 that has an interesting laser system to avoid and ignore decoy flares. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misagh-3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misagh-3 https://youtu.be/XKxfSlJ-HdQ https://youtu.be/XKxfSlJ-HdQ But it seems they are pretty pissed off with the Chinese, since they spent a few hundred million on their defense systems, that turned to be a complete failure. This was also after the HQ-9B failed to adequately protect high-value targets in Pakistan during India Operation Sindoor, "Chinese HQ-9B again in spotlight after reports of failure of Iranian air defence system amid US-Israel strikes" - https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/chinese-hq-9b-again-in-spotlight-after-reports-of-failure-of-iranian-air-defence-system-amid-us-israel-strikes/articleshow/128942437.cms?from=mdr https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/chinese-hq...
- bigyabai 6mo agoI don't believe the SA-67 is the most-likely weapon used, here. Given that it's turbojet powered, that missile is almost certainly subsonic and better suited for taking out prop-driven drones like the Predator. Even at sea level, the F-15E would probably outrun it at low cruise speed. You're definitely right that passive seekers are playing a huge role here, though. Many people online (and on HN) bought into the air dominance shtick just because major radar sites were taken offline. It was always the road mobile and TELAR vehicles that would be a threat.
- _DeadFred_ 6mo agoBoth crew members have been rescued from within Iranian territory by United State special forces. https://www.axios.com/2026/04/05/iran-f15-crew-member-rescued https://www.axios.com/2026/04/05/iran-f15-crew-member-rescue...
- uticus 6mo agoAlso reported at https://theaviationist.com/2026/04/03/iran-f-15e-debris/ https://theaviationist.com/2026/04/03/iran-f-15e-debris/
- ceejayoz 6mo agoC-130s and helicopters flying low over Iran right after they shot down an F-15 in the same spot is wild. Whatever I think of the war idiocy, that's brave.
- uticus 6mo agoIt's breaking news...meaning it may be inaccurate. CENTCOM certainly is saying it's false [0]. But there are enough signs of it being genuine, to be concerning at this stage. Flying low over Iran at this point is planned, expensive "standoff" munitions were planned to give way to more accurate and less expensive munitions once air superiority was reached - which U.S. has been claiming has happened for a while now. [0] https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2039805134704660622 https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2039805134704660622
- ceejayoz 6mo ago> CENTCOM certainly is saying it's false… Any time this administration cries "fake news" is probably a tell. > Flying low over Iran at this point is planned… But with C-130s and helos, in an area that just shot down a F-15? That's risky. One of the videos shows the C-130 deploying flares.
- uticus 6mo agohttps://www.axios.com/2026/04/03/iran-us-fighter-shot-down https://www.axios.com/2026/04/03/iran-us-fighter-shot-down
- aaron695 6mo ago[dead]
- verdverm 6mo agoCNN is reporting this confirmed by three US sources https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/03/politics/us-fighter-jet-iran https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/03/politics/us-fighter-jet-iran
- mothballed 6mo agoIf the pilots are recovered we probably won't hear about it from either side for hours. Iran will want to get them a mile underground before they send out the B-rolls. If recovered by the US, they will want them out of theater before anyone knows better so they can't be targeted.
- rasz 6mo agoOne pilot rescued. Only one seat spotted suggesting other one didnt make it.
- jeffbee 6mo ago[flagged]
- hypeatei 6mo ago> If this conflict continues we're going to see a lot of US assets in fragments. Yep, Iran recently destroyed a high tech radar plane ("AWACS") at a base in Saudi Arabia: https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/iran-war-attack-us-base-saudi-arabia-sentry-jet-destroyed-strike-rcna265764 https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/iran-war-attack-us-base-s...
- jeffbee 6mo agoIt's only "high tech" to the aforementioned cavemen. To everyone else it's a 707 you can't even get spare tires for any more, equipped with some truly obsolete technology aboard. I mean it has a mechanical waveguide for crying out loud.
- paganel 6mo ago> equipped with some truly obsolete technology aboard. So I guess the US won't have any issues replacing it at a cheaper cost (as far as I understood that one cost $500 million, give or take).
- jeffbee 6mo agoThe prototype E-7 cost $2 billion. It's a 737 with some radios.
- eqvinox 6mo ago"On 22 March 2019, the UK Defence Secretary announced a $1.98 billion contract to purchase five Boeing E-7 Wedgetails" Prototype price isn't really that meaningful (Also it's a 767 not a 737, that was the E-3 I think.)
- 6mo ago
- uticus 6mo agoWall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-war-news-2026?mod=WSJ_home_mediumtopper_pos_1 https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-war-news-2026?mod=WSJ_... "U.S. Conducting Rescue Operation After Jet Went Down Over Iran"
- uticus 6mo agowhy is this not showing at top of HN search sorted by date? https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=f-15&sort=byDate&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
- wesselbindt 6mo agoThe article says this is the first jet that was shot down by enemy fire this war, but this confuses me. Was the F35 that was downed a while back friendly fire or something? Are F35s not fighter jets?
- hypeatei 6mo agoThat one was damaged and managed to land safely, iirc. Depends on your definition of "shot down" I guess, but the pilot didn't eject, so...
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- malfist 6mo agoWe have always been at war with Eastasia
- ge96 6mo agoI thought the IR video of that showed it made the missile detonate before the missile hit, maybe shrapnel hit the jet Then again idk the jet exhaust becomes more significant not sure if afterburner or damage https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/1ry6ma2/f35_hit_by_iranian_air_defence/ https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/1ry6ma2/f35_...
- amelius 6mo ago[flagged]
- SubiculumCode 6mo ago[flagged]
- cromka 6mo agoGetting shot down shows... extreme capability? HOW?
- iqihs 6mo ago[flagged]
- ACCount37 6mo agoIran had one of the largest and most extensive integrated air defense networks in the world. US has been bombing Iran from day 0 of this war. Those are the air losses they took. Being able to counter air defenses to this degree and operate with this level of impunity is a major SEAD/DEAD win.
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- nathanaldensr 6mo agoYep. It's just a lie.
- IgorPartola 6mo agoIt's called Operation Epic Fuckup for a reason.
- salemh 6mo ago[flagged]
- 6mo ago
- MarkMarine 6mo agoMilitary aviators train for this, being alone behind enemy lines (look up SERE school if you’re curious, one of the craziest training courses outside of special forces) and there is a special force just for aviator recovery behind enemy lines, US AirForce Pararescue. Hopefully they’ll get the aviators back quickly, the last thing our country needs is American hostages making this ridiculous war harder to stop.
- asdff 6mo agoIf they landed anywhere near a town they are probably captured. The kuwait video from the f15 that was hit with friendly fire was crazy. Like 6 suvs worth of locals immediately surrounded this guy and they were threatening to beat him with a galvanized pipe.
- pram 6mo agoTBH I went through SERE school (aircrew) and I questioned its value, since the training is in eastern Washington/northern Idaho area mountainous woodland environment and all the evasion they showed us relied on that kind of cover and "bushcraft" And you know, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran are definitely not eastern Washington lol
- cactusfrog 6mo agoEastern Washington has a lot of hot desert
- uticus 6mo agoprevious conversation at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47626347 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47626347
- karp773 6mo agoWhy didn't Iran use its capability to take down enemy jets for an entire month?
- maxglute 6mo agoSpeculation. 1. Iran was retarded and didn't preemptively strike US staging who had local overmatch and first mover advantage. Nothing to do but weather hits, chip away at regional basing and wait until US+Israel operation tempo goes down. Can't sustain surge sorties forever, especially with regional logistics wrecked. US pilots tired now, on stims, making mistakes. 2. Iran not remain retarded, was hide and bide, waited for US to get complement, gathering data / building tactics to squeeze out surface-air without getting glassed. Regardless, Iranian capability seems much less degraded than claimed. Who knows how many of the 20k+ targets hit was basically just drawing down highend munition inventory, which now forces flying closer on lower end munitions. At the end of the day, Iranian mosaic forces are chilling in underground bunkers waiting for US+co to make mistakes. Consider Iraq, a much smaller country by every metric ate 5x more sorties from more carriers and sustained regional air campaign and fell because they hedged on centralized IADs. Granted most Iranian hits are precision munitions (more efficient per sortie), but we simply should not expect Iran doctrine built on distributed survivability to be remotely defeated relative to effort expended.
- Saline9515 6mo agoAlso the US has been mostly using cruise missiles, which don't require to get close to the targets. Now that those ammunitions are gone, they have to take more risks and use gliding bombs with GPS kits, which have a much shorter range.
- asdff 6mo agoIran doesn't have to shoot down a single jet to win this war. Just move military hardware into caves. Sacrifice civilian infrastructure as the only viable bombing target. Wait it out until American domestic pressure from perceived war crimes ends the war. They can't afford to fight a land war or garrison over the entire country. The fact that Israel has leveled much of the 140 square miles of gaza over the past 3 years and still fails to remove Hamas from power. No chance against 636,372 square miles and 93 million people. Worse odds than Vietnam. There isn't even a defined victory condition.
- jimt1234 6mo ago[flagged]
- throw03172019 6mo ago[flagged]
- vkr2020 6mo ago[flagged]
- npn 6mo agothe last time US wanted some country to reset back to Stone Age the same thing happened. turn out those aircrafts are not undefeatable at all.
- SubiculumCode 6mo agoThe only ones I'm seeing act like there should be no expectation of losing aircraft in a war are social media figures who always want to bloviate about something.
- dmix 6mo agoIt'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.
- verdverm 6mo agoFirst 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 ground (that we know of, sure there are some elite ops in the country)
- dmix 6mo agoYou 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.
- josefritzishere 6mo agoThis is the dumbest, most pointless military conflict in American history. There is nothing plausible to win, but we can conceivably lose everything. A pyric victory is among the most favorable outcomes. We are led by corrupt imbeciles. I can only hope the outcome includes regime change for the U.S.
- enaaem 6mo ago"We've had vicious kings, and we've had idiot kings, but I don't think we've ever been cursed with a vicious idiot for a king!"
- monooso 6mo ago> This is the dumbest, most pointless military conflict in American history. You've picked a high bar there.
- juanani 6mo ago[dead]
- tim333 6mo agoBut people have stopped talking about the Epstein files. Win for the dear leader.
- vkr2020 6mo agoapparently, Iran is claiming that the search and rescue helicopter has also been hit by a projectile.
- hirako2000 6mo agoIt wouldn't surprise me to see a for loop.
- pwarner 6mo agoI hope the aviators are OK, and also hope whoever they were bombing are also OK. I do wonder if Iran finds them first, will they treat them better than the US treated survivors of the ship sunk by a US torpedo in the Indiana Ocean?
- isubkhankulov 6mo agoThe crew of the IRIS Dena were warned twice by the US to abandon ship according to a report from one of the sailor’s father. They refused. Not sure if it’s possible to treat enemies better than that. And I doubt the Iranians will treat a US pilot well. Look at how they treat their own citizens.
- srean 6mo agoCan you cite something to support this. Quite keen to read.
- asdff 6mo agoIf the source below is correct, the commander of the Dena ordered his troops to stay on the ship despite the warnings, there was a bit of a mutiny and the survivors are those who rejected those orders and jumped off. https://www.iranintl.com/en/202603071125 https://www.iranintl.com/en/202603071125
- RobotToaster 6mo agoThat doesn't seem like the most trustworthy source. >Established in May 2017 and funded by Saudi Arabia,[1][2][3][4][5][6] it actively promotes former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi as the next ruler of Iran. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_International https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_International
- asdff 6mo agoIf anything that seems like it would lean American in its bias. Saudi are our allies as is the family of the former Shah.
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- rhcom2 6mo agoOne crew member rescued, other is still MIA and being actively searched for https://www.axios.com/2026/04/03/iran-us-fighter-shot-down https://www.axios.com/2026/04/03/iran-us-fighter-shot-down
- ceejayoz 6mo agoAnd CENTCOM's lying about it. https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2039805134704660622 https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2039805134704660622
- vorpalhex 6mo agoThat tweet is from yesterday. Iran tweets about taking down an American jet basically daily. By their count we are down 40 f-35s, 4 aircraft carriers and thousands of MQ-9s.
- ceejayoz 6mo ago> That tweet is from yesterday. That's when the shootdown happened, yes. > Iran tweets about taking down an American jet basically daily. Sure. We have two sets of demonstrable liars here. See, for example, the E-3 Sentry that got blown up; it took leaked photos for that to be admitted. And don't get me started on the several times in the last few months we've "obliterated" Iran's nuclear capacity and missiles and whatnot only to be told it's time to do it again.
- e-khadem 6mo agoThe claim being addressed is a shootdown over Qeshm island, which is the biggest island just west of the strait of Hormuz. The current CSAR operations are happening somewhere in the Khuzestan province. Probably somewhere within the 150 km radius of [1] based on online footage of the C-130 flying over. [1] 31.941606, 50.311765
- buildsjets 6mo agoAnd they have not edited it or taken it down... why?