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.”
“According to the CBS News, a crew member was rescued by American forces.”
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.
“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.
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.
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