A Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 Eagle pilot waves while taxiing for take-off, Feb. 2, 2021, at King Faisal Air Base, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Katherine Walters)
The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) lost an F-15 fighter jet during August in a crash that was not officially announced or reported by the media at the time.
A video of the crash, which reportedly took place on August 25, surfaced online on November 3. The footage shows an F-15 slamming into what appears to be civilian buildings near King Fahad Air Base. The crash resulted in in a large fireball. It remains unknown if the crash resulted in any casualties.
The RSAF operates more than 200 F-15 multirole fighter jets of the C, S and SA variants. It also operates some 20 F-15Ds as conversion trainers.
Two F-15 squadrons of the RSAF, the 5th and the 34th, are known to be based at King Fahad Air Base. Both squadrons are equipped with F-15Cs and F-15Ds. The air base also hosts the 3rd, 10th and 80th squadrons, which are equipped with Eurofighter Typhoon multirole fighter jets.
King Fahad Air Base has been playing a key role in the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen. From the air base, RSAF fighter jets takes off on missions to bomb areas held by the Houthis (Ansar Allah) in the war-torn country. The RSAF has not carried out any airstrikes on the group for more than six months now, however.
The Saudi Ministry of Defense is yet to officially acknowledged the crash in Taif. The local media in the Kingdom has been also ignoring the crash.
The fact that the crash took place near an air base suggest that it was the result of some technical failure, or a human error. One possible scenario is that the lost fighter jet was an F-15D on a training mission. Nevertheless, the Saudi decision to hide the crash rises some questions on what really happened to the fighter jet.
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its american secret weapon used for disobeying them
not enough duct tape followed by a hard landing and coincidental fireball to quote official US sources.
Looks like it was hit by a manpad over Yemen and the idiot pilot crashed into homes. Karma.