\n Three US fighter jets crashed in Kuwait on Monday due to an \u201capparent friendly fire incident,\u201d the US military said in a statement.\n <\/p>\n
\n Kuwaiti air defenses accidentally shot the F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets down late Sunday evening ET time. All six crew members ejected safely, US Central Command said.\n <\/p>\n
\n The cause of the incident is under investigation, according to CENTCOM. The jets were flying in support of the military operation against Iran, dubbed Operation Epic Fury.\n <\/p>\n
\n Kuwait\u2019s defense ministry had said in the early hours of Monday morning that \u201cseveral\u201d US fighter jets crashed but did not specify exactly how many or what had caused it. The fighter jets each cost tens of millions of dollars.\n <\/p>\n
\n The statement comes after videos geolocated by CNN showed a fighter jet crashing in Kuwait and a pilot parachuting to the ground.\n <\/p>\n
\n CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cDuring active combat\u2014that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones \u2014 the U.S. Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses,\u201d the CENTCOM statement said.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cAll six aircrew ejected safely, have been safely recovered, and are in stable condition. Kuwait has acknowledged this incident, and we are grateful for the efforts of the Kuwaiti defense forces and their support in this ongoing operation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cRelevant authorities immediately initiated search-and-rescue operations,\u201d Kuwait\u2019s defense ministry spokesperson Col. Said Al-Atwan said in the statement.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe crews were evacuating from the crash sites and transferred to hospital to assess their condition and provided necessary medical care,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n
\n The crew members are in a \u201cstable\u201d condition, the ministry added.\n <\/p>\n
\n Al-Atwan said Kuwait was in \u201cdirect coordination\u201d with US authorities.\n <\/p>\n
\n One video geolocated by CNN shows a fighter jet crashing over Kuwait near a US air base. The v\ufeffideo shows a jet on fire and falling in a tailspin out of the sky, and it suggests the jet came down within 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of the US Ali Al Salem base in Kuwait.\n <\/p>\n
\n Other videos geolocated by CNN appear to show a fighter jet pilot on the ground in Kuwait after ejecting from an aircraft.\n <\/p>\n
\n In one of the videos, a man in a full flight suit and helmet can be seen kneeling on the ground next to an orange and white parachute and a parachute cord in a desert area near a fence line.\n <\/p>\n
\n CNN has geolocated the video about 30 kilometers (18.5 miles) from the Ali Al Salem base.\n <\/p>\n
\n In another video, the pilot is seen standing up as bystanders look on, with thick black smoke billowing in the distant background.\n <\/p>\n
\n The crashes come during heavy bombardment on Gulf nations as part of an expanding war with Iran. It also comes as smoke has been seen over the area surrounding the US Embassy in Kuwait.\n <\/p>\n
\n It is notable when US fighter jets crash overseas and often triggers an investigation.\n <\/p>\n
\n In 2024, a US ship \u201cmistakenly fired\u201d upon a F\/A-18 operating from the USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea. The incident was investigated, and the two Navy pilots ejected safely.\n <\/p>\n
\n The US military has a significant number of military assets in the region, deployed in the weeks leading up to the joint US-Israeli military operation that kicked off early Saturday morning Eastern Time. A list put out by CENTCOM on Sunday showing the assets employed thus far included F-18s, F-16s, F-22s, F-35s, A-10 attack aircraft, MQ-9 Reaper drones, refueling aircraft, counter-drone systems, Navy aircraft carriers and guided-missile destroyers.\n <\/p>\n
\n More than 1,000 targets have been struck, the CENTCOM release on Sunday said, adding that the military is focusing on military targets like command and control centers, Iranian Navy ships and submarines, Islamic Revolutionary Guard corps headquarters and more.\n <\/p>\n
\n This story has been updated with additional details.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three US fighter jets crashed in Kuwait on Monday due to an \u201capparent friendly fire incident,\u201d the US…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-499248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}