Three United States Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles have been shot down over Kuwait in what U.S. Central Command has described as an apparent friendly fire incident.
In a press release issued on 2 March, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) said that at 11:03 p.m. Eastern Time the aircraft, which were flying in support of Operation Epic Fury, “went down over Kuwait due to an apparent friendly fire incident.”
According to the statement, the incident occurred during active combat operations that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones. USCENTCOM said the fighter jets were “mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses” amid the engagement.
All six aircrew aboard the three aircraft ejected safely and have since been recovered. The statement confirmed they are in stable condition. CENTCOM added that Kuwait has acknowledged the incident and expressed gratitude for the efforts of Kuwaiti defence forces in supporting recovery operations.
“The cause of the incident is under investigation,” the statement said, noting that additional information will be released as it becomes available.
No further operational details have been provided.
The aircraft itself
The F-15 Eagle is an all-weather tactical fighter developed to establish and maintain air superiority. Designed with a high thrust-to-weight ratio and low wing loading, it offers strong acceleration and manoeuvrability, enabling tight turns without significant loss of airspeed. Its performance characteristics are supported by twin turbofan engines and a lightweight airframe optimised for air combat operations.
The aircraft integrates a multi-mission avionics suite that includes a head-up display, pulse-Doppler radar, inertial navigation system, electronic warfare systems and identification friend or foe capability. The radar is designed to detect and track targets at long range and at varying altitudes, including low-level targets in ground clutter. Information is fed into a central computer to assist with weapons delivery, while the head-up display allows the pilot to access critical flight and targeting data without looking down into the cockpit.
The F-15 can carry a range of air-to-air weapons, including AIM-120 AMRAAM and AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles, alongside an internally mounted 20mm M61A1 cannon. The F-15E Strike Eagle variant expands the platform’s role to include deep interdiction and precision strike missions, with a two-seat configuration and enhanced avionics for all-weather, day and night operations. It is equipped with terrain-following capability and advanced radar systems to support low-altitude, high-speed penetration.
First flown in 1972, the F-15 entered service in the mid-1970s and has since undergone multiple upgrades through improvement programmes enhancing radar, computing power and electronic warfare systems. Variants of the aircraft have been deployed in numerous operations, including the 1991 Gulf War and subsequent campaigns in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. The F-15 remains in service with the United States Air Force and several international operators, fulfilling air superiority and strike roles within modern air forces.
Crikey in such a congested air space you would expect an occasional blue on blue but three?
Lot of trigger happy nervous air defence people along the Gulf coast.
Well that proves modern western air defences are good at destroying 4.5 generation aircraft..
Reminder to pilots; when re-entering friendly airspace, make sure you turn the IFF squwak box back on!
This, presuming the GBAD units know the USAF IFF codes.
Sounds like the responsibility of USAF mission planning to let their allies know before it starts…
Expensive mistake.
3 in one go, that is some going.
I assume Kuwait GBAD far exceeds ours?
Kuwait have Patriot and NASAMS.
Well there you go.
Where they’re located, over the last two decades they’ve needed it more than us, but it’s time our pathetic leaders got their arse in gear on this.
I have little real belief they will, by the way.
Guess it makes a change from the Spams shooting down our aircraft
Amazing luck that all 6 aircrew survived. How is that possible?
Ejection seats. They are a great invention. Have you heard about them?
At ours don’t reject downwards
AAW missiles generally head for the tailpipe as it is the hottest thing on IR and gives the best radar return.
That way there is a very solid engine between the missile and the pilot.
Doesn’t say much for the F15 countermeasures or the training of the land battery operators who can distinguish a slow drone from an F15. This is semi trained people pushing buttons.
Fair point on turbine heat signature and mass, however the turbine disintegration is catastrophic so it’s just as well the pieces are ejected axially, behind the crew.
All the Kuwait ground to air defences are semi active radar homers with warheads ranging for 35kg to about 85kg and finally if they manage to get a PAC 3 missile working a Mach 4-5 hit to kill evaporator … essentially it’s pot luck where the blast frag would go off really.
I suspect they were engaged by the older lighter systems and not Patriot PAC 2 or 3.. because your not really walking away from those.
Any modern system can shape the blast and fragmentation pattern.
It depends what shot them down really
Kuwait has three manybe four options
MIM-23 I-HAWK, Meduim altitude missile.. very very old big semi active Homer with a big old blast frag warhead ( 54kg) not accurate and would be using bug frag radius to get a kill.. it’s luck as where and if it get close to any part of the aircraft..
Amoun’ low-level air-defence systems, this would fire an Aspide missile, semi active, another semi active homers with a big blast frag 35kgs again its Luke where it hits or how far way it is..or it fires Raytheon AIM-7 which is another semi active homer and not much different to Aspide.
Patriot PAC 2, massive semi active Homer with a huge blast frag.. 85kg.. not sure there would be that much left of a f15 or the pilot to be honest as it’s designed to destroy a ballistic missile warhead that is hardened for re entry stress… it would probably evaporate an airbreather
Final option Patriot PAC 3.. this is a Mach 4-5 hit to kill missile.. weighing 650ibs.. it’s going to create the same sort of kinetic energy levels as being hit by an intercity 125… but concentrated into a very small area… evaporation of the f15 essentially.
So really I would imagine.. 1 they were not engaged by Patriots.. 2) for all 6 to be alive is just a matter of maybe maybe not.. ( luck).
how they shot them down at present Kuwait has patriot and some very old short range missiles.. Air breathing aircraft are essentially pretty fragile they make the cockpit less so.. a blast frag that causes catastrophic damage to an airframe May not be close enough to cause significant damage to the cockpit.. a
Interested to know who actually Shot them down,and by what means ?.
I don’t know what’s worse. being shot down by friendlies OR being shot down full stop, especially as these aircraft aren’t exactly missing anything for defensive purposes.
Glad the aircrew got out. Imagine if the Arabs start flying sorties….