Illustrative image. (U.S. Air Force photo/Samuel King Jr.)
An American F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jet made an emergency landing at a United States air base in the Middle East after it was struck by what is believed to be Iranian fire, CNN reported on March 19, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command said that the fifth-generation stealth jet was “flying a combat mission over Iran” when it was forced to make an emergency landing. He noted that the aircraft landed safely and the incident is under investigation.
“The aircraft landed safely, and the pilot is in stable condition,” Hawkins added. “This incident is under investigation.”
This is the first time the U.S. has admitted that Iran managed to hit one of its warplanes since the start of the American-Israeli war on the Islamic Republic nearly three weeks ago.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed that it managed to hit an F-35 over central Iran, and said that the fighter jet was seriously damaged. The guards even released video footage taken from a ground-based imager thermal tracking system showing the moment the jet was hit.
Both the U.S. and Israel are flying F-35s in the conflict. The fighter jet was designed for both air superiority and strike missions, it also has electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. It costs upwards of $100 million.
On March 4, the Israeli Air Force announced that one of its F-35s shot down a Russian-made Yak-130 trainer jet of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force over the Iranian capital, Tehran. The incident marks the first-ever downing of a manned aircraft by an F-35.
Despite its claimed high level of stealth, the F-35 was hit before. In 2017, Israel said that one of its F-35s was damaged as a result of a bird strike while on a reconnaissance mission over Lebanon. Nevertheless, it was later reported that the fighter jet was damaged by a missile launched from a Syrian Soviet-made S-200 long-range air defense system.
Iran is clearly restoring its medium and long-range air defense systems, and as the war drags on, these systems will likely become a threat again, especially if the Islamic Republic manages to some support.
Israel has already admitted that two of its fighter jets were nearly hit over Iran on March 3 and 14. Taking into account the latest incident, the threat is growing.
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maybe the amerimutts should lay off the fent. that pilot is a charcoal briquette. there isn’t a chance in hell he, “made an emergency landing”
the f-35 is one mean machine. in 12 years it has taken down several drones and a jet trainer. program cost in the trillions. look out world!
typical american garbage.
but the us congress / circus is meeting right now to enact some other stupid ideas just like the last. maybe they get trump to resign in six months or so to golfing. there will be more time to screw up and do the great work of producing media lies
never enough… look the jet exaust… the flame left behind should represent an engine explosion, how the hell it ‘landed safely’?
il bidone 35 non invisibile e’ stato abbattuto..uno yankee di meno
if you pause the video, you can clearly see a lot of birds hitting that f-35.
iran is not interested in lying. unlike its adversary the us whose system will be damaged or perish from internal deceit. thou shalt not lie