NEW: American Airplane Downed Close to Strait Of Hormuz
A second U.S. Air Force combat aircraft went down in the Persian Gulf region Friday, but the pilot survived, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the situation.
The A-10 Warthog crashed near the Strait of Hormuz around the same time an F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over Iran, the officials said. The lone pilot of the A-10 was safely recovered.
Officials offered few details about what caused the A-10 crash or the exact circumstances surrounding it.
Strait of Hormuz
The developments came as U.S. forces scrambled to respond to the loss of the F-15E inside Iranian territory — a far more serious incident that has triggered an ongoing search-and-rescue mission.
One crew member from that jet has already been pulled to safety, according to two U.S. officials who spoke to CBS News on Friday. The aircraft carries a two-person crew, and efforts are still underway to locate the second service member.
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The update followed claims from Iran that it had shot down a U.S. fighter jet.
State-linked Iranian outlets released footage they say shows the wreckage of the downed aircraft. Initial reports out of Tehran identified the jet as an F-35, but analysts reviewing the debris quickly pointed to a different conclusion.
Visible sections of the airframe, including parts of the fuselage and external mounting points, match the design of an F-15E, not the stealth profile of an F-35.
Reports from The New York Times and Axios later confirmed that a U.S. aircraft had been brought down, though key details about the incident remain unclear.
The initial shootdown marked the first known combat loss of a crewed U.S. Air Force aircraft over Iran since the war began.
The footage released by Iran shows scattered debris consistent with a Strike Eagle, a twin-engine jet built for long-range strike missions and air-to-air combat. The F-15E is widely used for hitting heavily defended targets while still engaging enemy aircraft.
Iranian officials have not said how the jet was taken down.
The aircraft is believed to be assigned to the 494th Fighter Squadron, known as the “Panthers,” one of the Air Force’s front-line strike units that regularly flies deep-strike missions using the F-15E platform.
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