F-15E jet shot down over Iran

uticus

Also reported at https://theaviationist.com/2026/04/03/iran-f-15e-debris/

uticus

https://www.axios.com/2026/04/03/iran-us-fighter-shot-down

verdverm

CNN is reporting this confirmed by three US sources https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/03/politics/us-fighter-jet-iran

mothballed

If 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.

uticus

Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-war-news-2026?mod=WSJ_... "U.S. Conducting Rescue Operation After Jet Went Down Over Iran"

uticus

why is this not showing at top of HN search sorted by date? https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

wesselbindt

The 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?

MarkMarine

Military 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.

uticus

previous conversation at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47626347

npn

the 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.

josefritzishere

This 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.

karp773

Why didn't Iran use its capability to take down enemy jets for an entire month?

vkr2020

apparently, Iran is claiming that the search and rescue helicopter has also been hit by a projectile.

pwarner

I 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?

rhcom2

One crew member rescued, other is still MIA and being actively searched for https://www.axios.com/2026/04/03/iran-us-fighter-shot-down

ChrisArchitect

[dupe] Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47626347 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47627182

roadbuster

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.

victorbjorklund

If 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?

JohnTHaller

Let'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.

sokitsip

Why is the US there again? Open up a straight that was open? Not expecting a reply.