Iran Downs U.S. F-15E, One Crew Member Rescued, Search For Second Continues
“US officials familiar with the situation later confirmed off the record that an F-15E had been brought down and the Pentagon was scrambling to find the crew.”
Iran Reportedly downed a U.S. F-15E over its southern airspace. Initial reports indicate that one of the two crew members has been rescued, while efforts to locate the other are reportedly underway.
“Iran has shot down a U.S. fighter jet, per two sources familiar with the incident, and a search and rescue effort is underway to locate two crew,” Axios reported. “On Friday, Iranian state media published pictures and videos that allegedly show parts of the downed plane and one of the ejection seats.”
BREAKING: 1 pilot has been rescued, intense search underway for 2nd crew member after F-15 downed over Iran, well-placed source tells Fox News
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 3, 2026
“According to the CBS News, a crew member was rescued by American forces.”
Iranian media has posted what appears to be debris from a USAF F-15E Strike Eagle, reportedly downed earlier today.
Seen here, the remains of a vertical stabilizer. pic.twitter.com/FGD8jrmM4p
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) April 3, 2026
The Iranian regime forces launched a massive manhunt and placed a bounty on the ejected American crew, The Telegraph (UK) reported:
The anchor of an Iranian TV channel told viewers: “If you capture the enemy pilot or pilots alive and hand them over to the police, you will receive a precious prize.”
An on-screen message separately urged the public to “shoot them if you see them”, referring to circulating footage of what appeared to be US aircraft in the area. (…)
A reporter working for the Tasnim news agency, linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in the province claimed the US had tried to extract the pilot following the downing of the jet.
In Iran, a reward of tens of thousands of dollars is being offered to those who locate the pilots.
— Amit Segal (@AmitSegal) April 3, 2026
“An Iranian military spokesman claims that a US F-35 fighter jet was shot down over central Iran a short while ago by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ air defenses,” The Times of Israel reported.
If reports are confirmed, this would mark the first U.S. fighter jet combat loss since Operation Epic Fury began more than a month ago.
Iran’s state-run Mehr News Agency calls on Iranian civilians to help capture the pilot and weapons officer of an American F-15E Strike Eagle that was allegedly shot down this morning over Southern Iran. pic.twitter.com/e2OsvaDB5t
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) April 3, 2026
The London-based Guardian reported the details of the emerging story:
A US F-15E fighter has been shot down over Iran, prompting a frantic US search and rescue effort for its two-strong crew, in the first such incident since the start of the war.
Images of a tail fin and other debris were released by Iranian state media early on Friday accompanied by an initial claim that an advanced US F-35 and been hit by a new air defence system over central Iran and the pilot probably killed.
Aviation experts said the wreckage pictured was in fact from a F-15E from the US air force’s 494th squadron, based at RAF Lakenheath in the UK, though it could not at first be confirmed when and where the pictures were taken.
US officials familiar with the situation later confirmed off the record that an F-15E had been brought down and the Pentagon was scrambling to find the crew. But there was no official comment from the US military about the incident.
USAF HC-130J and HH-60G Pave Hawks on a deep combat search and rescue for the downed F-15 Strike Eagle crew in Iran. pic.twitter.com/vhCqUupLuz
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) April 3, 2026
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Comments
The most surprising thing about this is that we’re still using F-15s.
F-15s are still surprisingly competent in today’s aerial environments. F-15Cs (air superiority fighters) have seen many upgrades, keeping them highly competitive even in combat against fifth-generation fighters. F-15Es (Strike Eagles, the type shot down) have a ground strike (not necessarily close support) mission. (F-16 fly most close support missions, even more than A-10s in recent conflicts. The F-16 is considered more survivable in some environments.) Strike Eagles are also highly-survivable in the modern anti-air environment and quite capable of defending themselves against enemy fighters even when still loaded on the way to a target.
The F-15 has been upgraded and fits nicely into the present needs of the US… somethings surprisingly age well.
Like A-10’s and B-52’s
😃
I believe these planes have been substantially upgraded, over the years, as with the F-16. The newest variant (according to Google Gemini), is the F-15EX Eagle II, described as a “4.5th generation” fighter, released in 2024.
there is a new version of F-15 called F-15E EagleII that is a real beast. It can carry 22 air-to-air missiles and used essentially as a missile truck. Israel wanted to buy some of them.
It’s actually comical watching the Iran apologists scream about this.
They finally managed to shoot down a SINGLE 50 year old fighter, and that means that Iran is ‘winning’.
These lunatics simply don’t live in reality.
A fifty-year-old fighter design, to be more precise. The plane itself was undoubtedly far newer, as it is still in production.
Assuming that they did, in fact, shoot one down.
I think we’ve killed more Iranian supreme leaders than they’ve shot down planes.
Even on the ground.
I’m listening to some media broadcasts that are literally calling this a “turning point”
Choose better media if you can.
Question: Are they also saying the walls are closing in?
Iran is now just two behind the UAE. They shot down three of our F15’s by accident.
So it’s off the record that this has been confirmed?
So the real story at the moment is that nobody knows if this story is true or not.
I hate the media.
Exactly, and what’s the point of telling us minute updates when something happens in this conflict? Can be nothing more than ‘getting some scoop’ with the goal to tarnish the effort [of killing off those who want us dead] because it’s PDJT and Team…nothing else matters to media. In The Founders would have held modern media up for treason, or minimally, sedition.
How about saving this “reportedly” story until the facts are clear so that people don’t get stirred up. I hope the story is just more fake news/propaganda.
all guesses here, but my hunches:
– likely the shoot-down was a local AAA site, near one of the F-15E targets, rather than some SAM or Airborne threat.
– why? because the threat seems benign enough to be sending daylight MH-60 and MC-130 birds. That likely would not happen in daylight if and AA threat existed.
– note the use of A-10s. Great Search and Rescue assets, long loiter, capable of low slow operations
I think the Iranian clown show got lucky
I think the AA was most likely a Russian or Chinese MANPAD.
Pray for the crew, this could be extremely painful and ugly
Hope they rescue the crew lest there be a capture and media focus on their plight going on eternally, when it’s of no actual military importance.
I disagree on the military importance, because morale is very important. Of course, it can also steel the resolve of our military if they are shown our captured personnel being mistreated.
(It could also mean Trump and Hegseth decide to throw off the shackles of Geneva, since Iran would now be in violation.)
I follow a Chinese dissident and she translates Chinese affairs to English.
When translating ….
@visegrad24
[…]report on a U.S. fighter jet being shot down over Iran, the original English text states that “a search and rescue effort is underway [for] two American pilots,”
but Google Translate directly renders it as “two American pilots were unfortunately killed (两名美国飞行员不幸遇难).”
Which is one reason I avoid using anything Google as much as possible, although I must at times. There are many who use it in spite of the dangers of using such an unreliable supplier.
.
This is Google China mainland.
One crewman rescued
Keep praying for the second
Think of WW2, if we acted the way we do now
If that were the case, half the country would be rooting for the Nazis
Iran, its allies (the left and Democrats) celebrate.
Curious the tailfin says “Europe”.
Where does it say that? They’re based in Great Britain. We have had a presence at Upper Heyford (UH) and Lakenheath (LN) for decades, since at least when the F-111s were operational. The initials on the vertical stabilizer will tell where the aircraft is based.
.
Take a close look at the photo in the Twitter image above. That’s the same tailfin from 2 different angles. The photo on the left shows the silouette / logo with the word EUROPE clearly visible.
That is what remains of the U.S. Air Force Europe shield that is applied on F-15s permanently stationed in Europe.
Have we found the second pilot?
There was an unconfirmed Tweet saying so. But no confirmation from anywhere. (The last I heard, anyway.)
A well connected Persian is claiming anti-regime forces are harboring the missing pilot.
@etelaf10
We can hope for the best.
Pray it’s so
“anti-regime forces are harboring the missing pilot.”
That follows. If we found one we should have found both. But if hostile had him they would be parading him all over TV. Seems plausible that anti-regime has him but cant get him out safely. They may have even been asked to stay put by US forces.