A video shared by Tehran Times claims to show the moment a US F-35 fighter jet was hit during a combat mission over Iranian airspace. The clip shows the aircraft appearing to take damage, with explosions, smoke trails, and the jet veering off course mid-air.
A US F-35 fighter jet was attacked during an Iranian strike and forced to make an emergency landing at a military base in the Middle East, according to CNN. The claim, first made by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), would mark the first known instance of Iran hitting one of the US military’s most advanced and expensive aircraft in the ongoing conflict in Middle East.
According to the IRGC, the stealth jet was struck by air defence systems over central Iran in the early hours of Thursday. A video shared by Tehran Times claims to show the moment a US F-35 fighter jet was hit during a combat mission over Iranian airspace. The clip shows the aircraft appearing to take damage, with explosions, smoke trails, and the jet veering off course midair.
In a statement, the IRGC said it had “struck and seriously damaged” the aircraft at around 2.50 am (local time), adding that the jet’s fate remains unclear and that there is a “high possibility” it may have crashed. The group also said the operation followed the interception of more than 125 US-Israeli drones, calling it evidence of improvements in Iran’s air defence systems.
If confirmed, the incident would mark the first time Iran has successfully targeted an F-35, a fifth-generation fighter jet that costs more than $100 million and is considered a cornerstone of US air power. Both the US and Israel have been deploying F-35s extensively since the conflict escalated on February 28.
US CONFIRMS EMERGENCY LANDING, PLAYS DOWN DAMAGE
According to CNN, US Central Command said the aircraft was “flying a combat mission over Iran” when it was forced to make an emergency landing. “The aircraft landed safely, and the pilot is in stable condition,” spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins told CNN. “This incident is under investigation.”
However, Washington has not issued any official statement. The Pentagon said its operations are going as planned, with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth saying the US is “winning decisively” and that Iran’s air defences have been “flattened”.
Amid escalating conflict, at least 16 US aircraft have reportedly been destroyed since the start of the war, including 10 Reaper drones, while several others have been damaged in combat or accidents.
[ADDENDUM]
The actual video of the event, plus more, from The Hindustan Times:
They suspect it was hit by a Qaem-118 ground-to-air missile fired from a pod on the back of a pickup truck. These things only have about a 25 km range and are mostly designed against drones and helicopters, so they pack a smaller warhead - which is probably why the plane was able to fly back home.
And for anyone wondering how a nation like Iran could hit the world’s most advanced 5th-generation stealth fighter: with a heat-seeking missile from short range. Stealth mostly protects against active radar, whereas IR radiation is something the plane itself emits (heat). It may not be enough to detect from hundreds of kilometers away, but this was apparently much closer.
They suspect it was hit by a
Who?
And for anyone wondering how a nation like Iran could hit the world’s most advanced 5th-generation stealth fighter: with a heat-seeking missile from short range.
So the message is clear:
Build a cheap, sustainable network of IR trackers you can put everywhere, on the ground, aerial drones, maybe even balloons, and then have an array of cheaper than radar guided, IR guided missiles, with slightly larger warheads than that one.
Sure, they won’t see the thing before it gets too close, but once it does get to close, decent chance you cost US taxpayers another $100 million, and whittle down their very difficult to manufacture air force over time.
Also, reducing IR signature… is a major consideration in how to design a stealth aircraft.
Because IR tracking is a thing that exists and works.
Numerous aircraft have been designed in ways that try to significantly reduce their IR signature.
‘Stealth’ doesn’t just mean ‘Radar Stealth’.
That’s what Radar Stealth means.
You can see in that video above just how well that “IR masking” works. The shape of the plane is barely distinguishable against the sky.
There’s only so much you can do to hide a plane from heat-seeking missiles. The best bet is to try outmaneuvering it and confusing it with flares.
The shape of the plane is barely distinguishable against the sky.
Is this a joke?
It was distinguishable enough that it had a consistent target lock on it, as indicated by the framing box, and realtime highspeed camera tracking.
???
The best bet is to try outmaneuvering it and confusing it with flares.
Oh, well, for it to do that, it would need to be able to detect an incoming missile.
… which it did not, otherwise it would have been doing those things.
Is this a joke?
Yes.
Oh, well, for it to do that, it would need to be able to detect an incoming missile.
It does have sensors that look for the heat signature of the missile’s rocket engine. There should be alarms screaming in the cockpit, the plane diving and doing pirouettes with flares flying everywhere. I don’t know why that doesn’t seem to be happening - maybe the video isn’t real.
Tehran Times would probably also claim that they lead the world in women’s rights and free speech.
I mean the incident is confirmed by the US side as well, if you read any of the article.
If this is what they arguing about, the war is not going well for the Israel…
As antisemitic as the Israeli government is, I don’t know…. I guess they will just keep calling everyone antisemites in the hopes that we all join their antisemitic cause? Netanyahu and the Israeli government is very confusing to me.
Trump, on the other hand doesn’t even try to use complete sentences, except when he is lying about himself. Netanyahu and his cabinet clearly articulate their antisemitism.
It’s a very strange time indeed. How about those gas prices?
Regardless, let’s keep the Iranian civilians, and the Palestinian civilians, and all of the civilians in all of the nations and the native tribes and all of us living here in our hearts.
Confirmed or not, get better sources. Equipment damaged in a war is completely plausible and even inevitable. Propaganda is also inevitable, from either side of a conflict. In this case, an Indian source has proxied state news meant for Iranians.
Trying to sort out their mix of AI slop posts from legit unbiased news isn’t worth my time, even if the news is proxied by another source. (Indian news is generally shit as well, I just ignore that by default. If you actually want extreme sensationalized trash, then good on you.)
Unless you are claiming the video is incorrect I don’t see your point in this instance other than any possible framing of the headline or story or whatever
He was just looking for an opportunity to say “AI slop”
