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 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:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=YZZAGO0rkLk

  • WanderWisley@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16·
    4 hours ago

    A plane that cost $1trillion dollars to develop was almost taken out by normal munitions. If this can be done again Americans air superiority is cooked.

  • mlg@lemmy.worldEnglish
    17·
    6 hours ago

    I would be so incredibly mad as the AA battery cmdr if I witnessed a direct hit and the jet just continued to fly lol.

    I can literally see the War Thunder “hit” message

    • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      20·
      5 hours ago

      No, no you would not be.

      Because now you have some of the most valuable targetting data on Earth.

      Iran, Russia and China will be pouring over all of that data, using it to figure out how to replicate a successful tracking and interception with their existing systems, or new ones.

      If you were a real War Thunder player, you’d be leaking that information on the forums.

      … do people not get this?

      That… this is the start of F35s just… not really being stealth, in at least certain situations?

      Where the… US and other F35 operators… may not know what those ‘certain situations’ are?

      6 months, a year, 2 years from now, the US no longer can just assume it will get air superiority.

      That… kinda … blows up a good deal of our military doctrine.

      Do you notice how the F35 … isn’t even doing evasive manuevers?

      Is not deploying countermeasures?

      It didn’t know it was being targetted.

      That’s a really big problem.

      • mlg@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        33 minutes ago

        Buddy chill its not that deep. He flew too low and in the range of an IR missile battery that they failed to spot as part of their SIGINT. That’s why they have video, he was so close that radar stealth literally would not matter. It even explains the small missile warhead size.

        And DAS missile detectors have been pretty awful at being able to detect missiles due to their tiny package size. There’s no gg ez RWR for passive tracking missiles.

        They’re flying sorties more brashly because they thought AA was taken care of, which is how this ambush succeeded.

        Yes it’s defnitley a first for successfully hitting the F-35, but this isn’t some groundbreaking concept. It would have been huge news if they targeted the F-35 at a BVR range with active tracking like with a radar or data link solution.

        Like I said, I’m sure the soldiers were super excited that they got a hit, but they would defnitley have preferred to have scored a full kill with a pilot ejection and subsequent capture.

  • Gork@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    35·
    7 hours ago

    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”.

    I see we’re going full Baghdad Bob here.

  • killea@lemmy.worldEnglish
    14·
    6 hours ago

    Ok… I watched less than one minute of that video. And previewed ahead a little bit. All I can see is stock and/or AI generated imagery and video and inserted headlines, and loads of Russian and Chinese astroturf/bots in the comments. I mean, its Hindustan time that’s what I’d expect.

    If the F35 got hit by AA and landed, it speaks well of the aircraft; let’s be clear about that. I’m gonna presume that its a resource that the US and Israel have been overusing since the start. Which means Iran has had a lot of opportunity to shoot at them. All stealth means is that their head-on radar cross-section is extremely small, and the coating and shape of the craft refract radar signal, rather than reflect. I’m surprised more haven’t been hit or lost. Hell I’m surprised a Shahed drone swarm hasn’t tried for a carrier. It seems Iran is using what they have to disrupt and upset the world’s energy economy, which is probably the smarter option, for them.

    All this “war” proves out to me is that we are that much further into our third world war. And it seems like that is exactly what the vile excrement in power right now seem to want. It’s a great distraction from the fact that we are fucked.

    Edit: I always like to leave little notes when I leave a comment I put a little effort into, and am subsequently reminded that I am wrong for having any faith in the human race in general.

    • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      16·
      7 hours ago

      I’m gonna presume that its a resource that the US and Israel have been overusing since the start.

      Oh?

      Why would you presume that?

      All stealth means is that their head-on radar cross-section is extremely small, and the coating and shape of the craft refract radar signal, rather than reflect.

      You ever heard of the concept of an ambush?

      You… appear weaker than you are, absent, and then you set a trap?

      Also: $2 trillion dollars.

      Could have bought a lot of healthcare with that.

      I’m surprised more haven’t been hit or lost.

      Not surprising if we haven’t been using them that much and have instead been using a lot of ballistic missiles, untill we basically ran out of them.

      You know like how Ukraine went early on, everybody blew their load early, then had to figure out ways to try and get the same range out of stuff launched from fighters/attack aircraft, like the guided+boosted glide bombs?

      Hell I’m surprised a Shahed drone swarm hasn’t tried for a carrier.

      That’s not surprising given how incredibly rational Iran has been acting.

      It doesn’t escalate first.

      We do. Then they respond in kind.

      Sinking a US carrier and causing roughly a 9/11’s worth of deaths would uh… be quite an escalation, and they’re aware of that.

      Fortunately, it seems the sailors on the Ford seemed to do a good enough job of stuffing tshirts into the toilets and setting the laundry room on fire, that that particular carrier uh, removed itself from action, functionally.

      It seems Iran is using what they have to disrupt and upset the world’s energy economy, which is probably the smarter option, for them.

      It is so insanely obviously the smarter strategy that for decades, that’s been the conclusion of Western military analysts, and Iran has just also … more or less just said that is what they would do.

      • killea@lemmy.worldEnglish
        10·
        6 hours ago

        Not a clue about the nature of your hostility, so I’ll just leave you with it. I was mostly reactive regarding the poor quality of a side’s propaganda, and musing on it. I feel like I’d be wasting my time responding to surreptitious bullet points.

        Edit: I’m not sure how other aren’t seeing how you have turned things we agree upon into point of perceived attack, but you’re good. I admit, you like hitting the enter key twice a alot. My original point that your source video for this is obvious garbage still stands. Of course, I am not disputing events as reported. You should try paragraphs.

      • Deacon@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        6 hours ago

        Are you implying that the laundry room fire was set on purpose by some of the sailors?

        Genuine question. It seems plausible and I’m not sure why I took the official story at face value but I haven’t seen anything to contradict it myself.

        • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
          6·
          6 hours ago

          Are you implying that the laundry room fire was set on purpose by some of the sailors?

          Yes.

          Its being investigated.

          They already found the tshirts stuffed into the extremely fancy, vaccuum pump system that comprises the toilets.

          Yeah I can see you accidentally dropping your phone in the shitter.

          Not multiple tshirts.

          … It’s kinda like they fragged the aircraft carrier itself, but in a way that didn’t kill anybody.

          Clever.

          The Dems did go through that whole episode of ‘You do not have to follow illegal orders.’

          Declaring ‘No quarter’, publically, in a televised press conference… that’s not allowed by the DoD’s own rules, and is widely regarded as a war crime, in and of itself.

    • wheezy@lemmy.mlEnglish
      7·
      6 hours ago

      If the F35 got hit by AA and landed, it speaks well of the aircraft

      Does it? If I was rolling out the first tank against an enemy on horseback that were able to disable my tank enough to send my tank back for repair, I’d really have to rethink my tank design.

      Not a perfect analogy. But, I’m trying to make a point so it’s exaggerated. We are talking about the flagship stealth aircraft getting shot at and damaged without its knowledge of being targeted or shot at. That’s insane.

      Unless Iran is rocking some Chinese tech we don’t know they have (or even some tech they developed themselves) the F35 was tracked and damaged without any knowledge to the pilot at all that they were being shot at until they got hit.

      That may speak well of its impact capability. But, the F35 is not a tank, it’s literal purpose is to target the enemy without being detected and Iran just flipped that on its head with the US militaries flagship 2 trillion dollars of development cost aircraft.

      That DOES NOT speak well for it at all given it’s fundamental purpose. The fact that it was forced to land and could not carry out it’s purpose is NOT a testament to its ability at all.

    • teyrnon@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      5 hours ago

      Sorry about the downvote. I get your point, but I would counter that Iran is levels below us in technology. They should not be able to hit our planes absent some technological advances on their part, big ones. I suspect bad, arrogant orders put those planes in a reckless position.

      But the F-35 was a shit show from the start. They demanded it be both a fighter and bomber and do everything, and it went over budget, over time, for what, two decades? I suspect it’s not all it’s cracked up to be, and bad reckless orders. Also they have kill switches in the ones they sell some countries. A fusible link that bricks it. As per the rumour.

      • perestroika@slrpnk.netEnglish
        4·
        4 hours ago

        They do have some interesting advances. E.g. loitering air defense missiles.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/358_missile

        Since F-35 does not use its radar while being stealthy, it would require an early warning from an AWACS about a loitering missile. But the missile is small. It gets pointed to an area and told (typical scenario) “there be helicopters somewhere there, go and see if you can find them”. It cruises in economy mode and watches with presumbaly side-scanning sensors. If it sees a hot topic, it turns and goes from loitering mode to darting mode.

        P.S. Not sure if this was the weapon involved. It’s just the strangest thing Iran has.

  • SolacefromSilence@fedia.io
    4·
    8 hours ago

    I’m not naive to think nothing ever happens or that the US is invincible, but especially with AI now, you can’t trust anything unless lots of other people corroborate it.

    • wheezy@lemmy.mlEnglish
      4·
      6 hours ago

      The fact that most videos “cut” quickly after the impact actually makes me think this footage is real.

      Iran obviously wants to flex here. So they say it was “shot down” (technically true, it was hit and had to make an emergency landing).

      So they cut the footage at the explosion so anyone watching can infer (incorrectly) that it was completely destroyed but Iran can still technically be reporting a true event.

      If they were gonna fake it they’d just have longer footage with the aircraft gone.

      So, it’s more a means of war propaganda (that both sides are engaging in right now). But likely real footage of the incident.

      Either way, this is a flex for Iran. America’s flagship stealth fighter being hit and tracked without its knowledge (I’m inferring from its lack of flare or evasive flight) is insanely damaging to its image of air dominance. Anyone saying otherwise is coping.

      • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
        3·
        4 hours ago

        Either way, this is a flex for Iran. America’s flagship stealth fighter being hit and tracked without its knowledge (I’m inferring from its lack of flare or evasive flight) is insanely damaging to its image of air dominance. Anyone saying otherwise is coping.

        Not many people seem to understand how big of a deal this is.

        Like… all F35 operating countries now have maybe what, 2 years, max, maybe considerably less, before they have to entirely rethink their aerial doctrines?

        This is insanely bad.

        I can basically guarantee anybody that Russia and China already have all the info from this event.

    • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      3·
      7 hours ago

      Did you read the whole article?

      Did you read all the parts of it I quoted, inline?

      Or did you just read the headline, look at the picture?

      Gee I just have no idea how so many people are being tricked by ‘AI’ these days.

      • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
        4·
        8 hours ago

        Nah.

        It was a good hit, but not a shoot down.

        The aircraft and pilot landed at some nearby airbase, not sure if the specific base has been reported, but the US did confirm the F35 was hit, made it back.

        https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/19/politics/f-35-damage-iran-war

        A US F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing at US air base in the Middle East after it was struck by what is believed to be Iranian fire, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

        Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for US Central Command, said the fifth-generation stealth jet was “flying a combat mission over Iran” when it was forced to make an emergency landing. Hawkins said 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.”

        The incident would be the first time Iran has hit a US aircraft in the war started in late February. Both the US and Israel are flying F-35s in the conflict; the aircraft costs upwards of $100 million.

        This is the CNN report that my original link, and cited quote, sources.