A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle was downed over Iran, and combat search and rescue efforts are underway April 3, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.
One crew member has been rescued so far and is alive, sources said. The status of the second crew member is not yet publicly known. The jet has a two-person crew with a pilot and a weapons systems officer.
Initial U.S. indications suggest the jet was shot down.
Iran claimed to have downed a U.S. fighter overnight and posted photos purportedly showing the jet’s wreckage.
Those photos, circulated by Iranian media, appear to show wreckage from an F-15E, but they could not be immediately authenticated. U.S. Central Command and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Videos on social media, purportedly taken in southwestern Iran, show U.S. aircraft flying low, possibly to conduct combat search-and-rescue operations.
This would mark the first known combat loss of a U.S. manned aircraft during the conflict. A U.S. Air Force F-35 pilot suffered shrapnel wounds after their aircraft was damaged during a combat mission over Iran on March 19, but the plane was able to make an emergency landing at a U.S. air base. Three USAF F-15Es were shot down by friendly fire over Kuwait on March 2, with all six crew members ejecting safely. And a KC-135 tanker crashed in western Iraq after an apparent midair collision with another U.S. aircraft, resulting in the deaths of six Airmen.
This is a developing story and will be updated.