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Kuwaiti Air Defenses Shoot Down Three U.S. F-15E Jets Amid Iran Strikes

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Several U.S. Air Force F‑15E Strike Eagle fighter jets were shot down over Kuwait in an apparent friendly-fire incident on Monday, with all six aircrew ejecting safely and in stable condition, the U.S. military said businessinsider +1. The crashes came as Kuwait and other Gulf states were under intense Iranian missile and drone attack during the third day of retaliatory strikes across the region dw +1.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Defense first announced that “several United States military aircraft crashed” on its territory early Monday and stressed that all crew members survived and were taken to hospitals for evaluation trtworld. Hours later, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that three F‑15Es “went down over Kuwait due to an apparent friendly fire incident,” saying Kuwaiti air defenses mistakenly engaged the jets during active combat operations businessinsider +1.

How a High‑Tempo Battle Turned Deadly for Allied Jets

CENTCOM said the U.S. aircraft were flying in support of “Operation Epic Fury” when they were caught in a dense exchange involving Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones, and Kuwaiti air defenses responding to incoming threats businessinsider +1. “During active combat … the U.S. Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses,” the command stated, adding that all six crew “ejected safely, have been safely recovered, and are in stable condition” businessinsider +1.

Video verified by media outlets showed at least one jet trailing flames and spiraling toward the ground near Ali Al Salem Air Base, northwest of Kuwait City, with parachutes visible above cnn. The incident highlighted the extreme complexity of Gulf airspace since U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior officials over the weekend, prompting large-scale Iranian missile and drone attacks on Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar and other states dw +2.

Conflicting Claims From Tehran and Escalation Risks

Even as Kuwait and the United States attributed the downing of the jets to Kuwaiti air defenses, Iran’s Khatam al‑Anbiya central command and state media claimed Iranian forces had shot down three American fighters, releasing footage and images it said showed a destroyed U.S. F‑15 and a captured pilot middle-east-online +1. Those assertions directly contradicted CENTCOM’s account and Kuwait’s statements that all crew were in allied hands and receiving medical care businessinsider +1.

The friendly-fire episode unfolded as Kuwait reported intercepting “hostile drones” over residential districts and as at least one person was killed in separate Iranian strikes in the Gulf dw +1. Investigators from both countries are now examining radar data, weapons logs and debris to determine precisely how the engagement unfolded and whether identification or coordination failures between U.S. and Kuwaiti systems played a role reuters +1.

The Bigger Picture

The loss of three advanced U.S. fighters without fatalities underscored both the sophistication and the fragility of modern coalition warfare: a tightly integrated air-defense network can still misidentify friendly aircraft when multiple actors are firing simultaneously. With Iran vowing to continue retaliatory attacks and U.S. and Israeli forces pressing their own campaign, the incident raised urgent questions over how quickly allies can tighten rules of engagement and communication to avoid further accidents that could inflame an already volatile war dw +1.