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WASHINGTON (AP) — In a striking incident not seen in over two decades, Iran has downed two American military aircraft, demonstrating its capability to retaliate despite former President Donald Trump’s claims of having severely weakened the Islamic Republic.
This confrontation follows a series of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran that began five weeks ago, with Trump recently asserting that Tehran’s capacity to deploy missiles and drones had been significantly reduced.
On Friday, Iran targeted a U.S. F15-E Strike Eagle fighter jet, resulting in the rescue of one service member while efforts continue to locate another, according to U.S. officials. Furthermore, Iranian state media reported that an American A-10 attack aircraft crashed after being struck by Iranian defense systems.
Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Houston Cantwell, a seasoned F-16 fighter pilot, noted that the last instance of a U.S. aircraft being brought down by enemy fire was during the 2003 Iraq invasion when an A-10 Thunderbolt II was hit. He attributed the rarity of such incidents in Iran to the U.S. largely engaging with insurgents lacking advanced anti-aircraft technology.
Cantwell emphasized that the minimal loss of fighter jets in Iran underscores the prowess and effectiveness of U.S. military forces.
“The fact that this hasn’t happened until now is an absolute miracle,” said Cantwell, who served four combat tours and is now a senior resident fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “We’re flying combat missions here, they are being shot at every day.”
Shoulder-fired missile likely used, experts say
U.S. Central Command said in a statement Wednesday that American forces have flown more than 13,000 missions in the Iran war while striking more than 12,300 targets.
After more than a month of punishing U.S.-Israeli airstrikes, a degraded Iranian military nonetheless remains a stubborn foe. Its steady stream of strikes against Israel and Gulf Arab neighbors have been causing regional upheaval and global economic shock.
When it comes to American dominance over Iran’s airspace, there’s still a distinction between air superiority and air supremacy, said Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran program senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank.
“A disabled air defense system is not a destroyed air defense system,” he said. “We shouldn’t be shocked that they’re still fighting.”
American planes have been flying missions at lower altitudes, which makes them more vulnerable to Iran’s missiles, Taleblu said. It’s possible that Iran fired at the F-15 with a surface-to-air missile, but it’s more likely that a portable, shoulder-fired missile was used, he said. Those are much harder to detect and reflect how Iran is “weak but still lethal.”
“This is a regime that is fighting for its life,” he said.
Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and a senior defense adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, agreed that a shoulder-fired missile was likely used against the fighter jet.
Nonetheless, the American air war against Iran has been a “tremendous success” so far, he said.
To put things in perspective, he said the loss rate for American warplanes flying over Germany during World War II was 3% at one point, which would equal about 350 warplanes in the U.S. war against Iran.
“But then there’s the political side — you have a American public that is accustomed to fighting bloodless wars,” Cancian said. “Then a large part of the country doesn’t support the war. So to them, any loss is unacceptable.”
Pilots are trained on what to do if their plane is hit
The last U.S. jet shot down in combat was struck by an Iraqi surface-to-air missile over Baghdad on April 8, 2003. The pilot safely ejected and was rescued, according to the Air Force.
In high-threat environments like missions over Iran, Cantwell, the retired general, said an aviator’s blood pressure goes up and they become highly alert to incoming missiles. Those are typically either infrared- or radar-guided missiles, he said, requiring different evasive tactics.
If they are hit and need to eject from their aircraft, they are trained on what to do next, he said.
Pilots learn to check for wounds after a violent ejection and the shock of a missile explosion and, most crucially, how they are going to communicate their location so rescuers can find them.
At the same time, he said, the enemy is likely working to intercept the communications or even spoof the location.
Helicopters are more at risk than other aircraft
The planes that went down Friday were not the first crewed American aircraft to be lost overall in Iran.
A military helicopter and airplane exploded in 1980 during an aborted mission to rescue several dozen American hostages at the U.S. embassy in Tehran, according to the Air Force Historical Support Division.
After a series of setbacks, including severe dust storms and mechanical failures, the mission was called off. As the aircraft took off, the rotor blades of one of the RH-53 helicopters collided with an EC-130 aircraft full of fuel and both exploded, killing eight.
More U.S. helicopters have been shot down in recent decades, including a MH-47 Army Chinook helicopter that was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in Afghanistan in 2005, killing 16. Helicopters are more dangerous because “the lower and the slower, the more susceptible you are,” Cantwell said.
That’s why those who went out on this week’s rescue missions, likely in helicopters, he said, did “such a brave and honorable act.”