US F-35 hit, forced to make emergency landing, IRGC takes credit | The Jerusalem Post
www.jpost.com
This would be the first time Iran has hit a US aircraft in the war. Both the US and Israel are using F-35s, which are fifth-generation stealth jets costing upwards of $100 million.

A US F-35 fighter jet was forced to make an emergency landing at a US air base in the Middle East after being struck by what is believed to be Iranian fire, CNN reported on Thursday, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

Iranian media claimed the IRGC was behind the hit shortly after.

According to Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for US Central Command, the F-35 was “flying a combat mission over Iran” when it was struck and was forced to make an emergency landing.

  • KidNamedLainah@lemmy.worldEnglish
    202·
    1 day ago

    I literally just saw the thermal footage from Dropsite where the F35 gets slapped silly. Even though it was not destroyed, the entire project relies on whether or not it is invincible to fire and invisible to any tracking systems.

    It’s honestly embarrassing as an American to see how much money is funneled into failed projects just to fatten the wallets of multi-billionaires. At this rate, countries that rely on the US for defenses will run to China for assurances (as they should, tbh).

    Either way, ANOTHER 10 TRILLION TO THE MIC

    • krimson@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      17 hours ago

      If this is legit, the pilot has no idea that a missile is incoming because he is not doing any evasive manoeuvres. No idea what happened there but it’s not a good look.

      • KidNamedLainah@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        4 hours ago

        I’m leaning towards reliable since Drop Site usually gets scoops of important documents right before large news outlets do, such as most leaked Gestapo documents. As to why/how it got locked on and fired upon, there was drops of news the past few years of Russian S400’s successfully detecting it. Either it was the luckiest dumb fire and the Russians should go buy a lottery ticket, or the F35 has an Achille’s heel that was previously unknown.

    • Buelldozer@lemmy.todayEnglish
      2·
      24 hours ago

      As an American I’m rolling my eyes so hard at your comment that they are about to fly out of my skull.

    • tidderuuf@lemmy.worldEnglish
      69·
      1 day ago

      So your assuming China has better weapons? Care to share any actual combat scenarios recently where data from the results are not tightly controlled by an authoritarian government?