As everyone has heard by now, an F-15E was shot down last week in Iran. The E model is a two-seater, and both crewmembers ejected. The US immediately launched a massive recovery operation. One of the supporting A-10s was subsequently shot down and had to ditch in the Persian Gulf. One (or two) C-130s broke down at an improvised landing strip in Iran and had to be destroyed. We may find out about other losses as well.
The first lost crewmember was rescued in about a day and the other was just rescued last night after a prolonged firefight with Iranian IRGC, paramilitary forces, and civilians looking for a bounty. Here are some points:
- Prima facie, the shootdown proves that Iranian air defense is not totally dead yet, contra Trump's ill-timed claim last week. The current thinking is that they have abandoned whatever radar-guided SAMs they have left and are exclusively using heat-seeking SAMs.
- At the same time, the American response proves that Iranian air defense is spotty at best. In the recovery operation, American helicopters and C-130s, which are far more vulnerable to SAMs, were flying low over the crash area constantly in broad daylight.
- There is also a threat from Iranian MANPADs (shoulder-fired SAMs). Those would have shot down the helicopters, so it seems that the Iranians are being very choosy as to where they deploy their resources.
- American special forces landed in Iranian territory, got to the pilots first, and fought off a huge force of IRGC and paramilitaries to successfully accomplish their mission. America still has the edge in a ground engagement, especially at night.
- A decent number of civilians in the area were apparently motivated to capture the pilot, and the claim is that the Iranian government had to lie to them that the pilot was captured elsewhere in order to calm the crowd. This detracts from the claim that the Iranian people are itching to overthrow the regime. I am not sure exactly what ethnicity lives in that area.
- The first shootdowns of American aircraft are noteworthy, but they are not exactly out of the norm. Even when the US steamrolled Iraq in Desert Storm 1991, about 30-40+ aircraft and helicopters were lost to enemy fire.
- At the same time, the shootdowns prove that Iran is resilient and not ready to roll over. They have survived the shock and awe and are adjusting their tactics.
So in summary, we the goyim are still really good at waging war, but Iran continues to survive and make the war costly. This is still looking like a possible spreadsheet defeat for the US as we continue to rack up expensive losses of equipment and ammunition.
At the same time, Iran is a civilized country that depends on complex infrastructure, and they won't be able to defend or absorb the powerplant and oil strikes that Trump is threatening. They will, however, be able to bring down a lot of the Gulf with them.
Here’s what actually likely happened:
Fighter jet gets shot down by Iran’s SAM.
Pilot has GPS locator sending his location to rescue forces. So they have an advantage knowing where he is.
They send rescue teams to retrieve the guy.
They lose even more aircraft either due to SAM fire or just crash it on landing. Either way, extremely retarded. If there were any deaths, they would not be reported.
There was no firefight, no drama, the guy was extracted in a very boring manner but that doesn’t make for good propaganda, so they embellished the whole thing to make it sound like some hollywood kickass moment and neglected to mention any embarrassing loses.
OR, the pilot wasn’t rescued and this whole thing was just another lie from zognald and his jewish handlers.
And in the film adaptation the pilots will both be black and gay, at one point they will be sheltered by friendly jews that put themselves at risk from the evil Iranian to keep the pilots safe in the basement, and the intelligence needed to save them will come from a woman. Who will also be gay.
And the inspector that had a hunch where the pilot was hidden will be a women played by Emily Blunt.
Don't forget the evil White Colonel who doesn't trust Blunt's intel and is actually a traitor who doesn't want the pilots brought back alive because of "muh racism" or some-such.
After the pilots return safely and the Colonel confronts Blunt with some kind of snark, Hollywood will get its "punch a Nazi in the face moment" as Blunt sparks out the Colonel with a weak looking right hook.
Probably a distraction that cost equipment and probably lives to rescue the guy as you say in a very boring manner.
Heard the second pilot was essentially being guarded by a reaper drone the entire time that was targeting any military aged Iranian men. So some drone operator was playing an IRL extraction shooter..
In terms of equipment lost, that's not really anything to the US and no this isn't me saying 'The US is invincible!', it's been standard procedure even in WW2 that military doctrine is equipment means less than US soldiers lives, you can see how the sherman tank was designed so crews had more chance to bail, run away and just get a new tank. And in modern day how much they leave equipment everywhere (cough Afghanistan)
The issue is, they do have SOME air defense but is it based on range since they hit low flying ground attackers not the B52s or B1 bombers and American ground forces were able to LAND in the Iranian interior, carry out a successful extraction and get out without any casualties.
I worry this might escalate things given the events as they are might give the wrong lessons to both sides especially that American ground forces are superior even outnumbered inside Iran.
Yep. I'm glad that we're still the best. If it's Americans fighting, I want us to win. At the same time, this war is wrong and if this engagement gives decisionmakers more confidence to deploy infantry, we may be in for a bad time. We still don't have any good defense against FPV drones.
I don't have any sympathy for Americans who willing sign up for war post-Iraq, either cynically or being stupid enough to still think they are defending the homeland. And I have relatives in the military.
As for the war, in terms of traditional air warfare, the paradigm shift was the F-35 weeks ago. That is far more consequential long-term sans Iran.
The best in what? Special Forces, OK, but from the track record, last victories were Grenada (2T military budget in the island, adjusted numbers) and Panama (4.5 T military budget)
The US military is really good at killing things, but that's not the same as being good at nation building.
Shock and awe, very good planes that can destroy anything without AD. Now, boots on the ground, that's another story
They just put guys on the ground and it went basically perfectly.
Eastern bunny told you the story?
That was in an uncontested area -- and the randomness of the location meant Iranian forces were scattered.
When infrastructure is at stake, or convoys are involved, we saw how in Iraq and Afghanistan guerrilla tactics were maiming soldiers left and right and taking out small patrols with IEDs. It was Vietnam all over again, and that's not really something any sane person would want if ground engagements become the norm in Iran.
Besides that, it's a hostile invasion, and unlike Iraq, where there were as least some individuals who sided with the Americans displacing Saddam, in this instance there was no quasi "noble" pretense for invasion, and there are definitely going to be more civilians against foreign invaders than in Iraq's case -- especially if their infrastructure gets crippled like in Iraq, where basic necessities like water, petrol and electricity are put in short supply.
You're accidentally correct about the War on Terror being Vietnam again, but the actual reason is that US soldiers were intentionally kept from fighting in a way that would have let them actually win the war, not the brave foreign warriors being superior killing machines.
Yeah there's A LOT in the works to defend against drones from microwaves, spamming them with radio waves to lasers but none of them are currently deployable.
And I'd prefer not just going full Russian and relying only on shotguns for drone defense..
My guess is that there's going to be some experimentation with EMP devices(if that's remotely logistically feasible, I don't know) and go back to ye olde analog warfare. Basically you'll have to have segments of the military able to operate without electronics for periods at a time in order to thwart drones. Figuring out how to do communications for an operation in that scenario though...that's gonna make it difficult but if it's what it takes to counter drone tactics then maybe they figure it out.
ZOG DIVERS NEVER DIE
No, with the amount of drone use, this is close to early access Arc Raiders..
LOL, imagine saying something like that in the situation room in front of a bunch of 5 star generals..... and people wonder why our generation is so bitched out.
I am not saying that to a room full of 5 star generals, I'm saying that on a forum called KOTAKUINACTION2 that had it's roots in gamergate that started because a whore called Zoey was fucking for better reviews.
Should I not refer to gaming on this forum?
We're fighting an illegal war because our pedophile blackmailed senile president is literal puppet of a foreign nation. This war, that's likely to crash the petrodollar, will probably lead to an absolute Ass-Fucking for all of us, and will be the end of American world dominance.
Maybe every fucked up dystopian event we're forced to live through doesn't need to immediately be compared to some bibeo game with a soyface.
Zero evidence of Trump pedophilia btw
The entire purpose of epstein files was to blackmail influential people into doing israel's bidding, and guess what, trump is literally sacrificing the US for israel.
You're like a online Karen, the tone policing, the 'why aren't you taking EVERYTHING seriously', the 'how dare you joke about this!' attitude, also noticed you went for me not the guy before making a similar reference.
So either take the stick out of your ass or are you going to ask for my manager next?
I'm the karen? You're the one constantly bitching about how people are joining your bibeo game gated community and saying things you don't agree with. Pot calling the kettle black much?
How would you feel if you didn't have breakfast this morning
Hungry, nigger.
You’re immediately accepting nearly everything the zog government has said in your write up as fact, which is absurd in itself, considering how they’ve proven beyond a doubt that nothing they say can be trusted.
Like even the Hollywood “firefight” probably didn’t even happen or was embellished to extreme levels.
lol, LOL.
In what universe is losing a F-15 to SAM fire, then possibly losing two more C-130s, potentially a couple helicopters, all to rescue the pilot that was stranded because the air strike failed “we’re really good at waging war”. 🤡
This has been confirmed by independent journalists and Iran itself, so no.
Yeah OK lol, so you think the IRGC were just lazy and didn't really care about capturing an American pilot?
Because we got them out safely, which few militaries could even think about doing. In fact I would go so far as to say that no military besides ours is capable of an operation like this.
As far as the actual loss of the F-15, every single military in the world is going to lose combat aircraft at some point. After hundreds of sorties this was bound to happen.
Iran's military forces are heavily decentralized, it's been part of their doctrine for more than a decade. They can't react extremely quickly for individual objectives like a more centralized command structure can. The flip side of that is they are very hard to actually kill, which is what they're going for since they recognized correctly that our silly excuse for a doctrine focuses on decapitation strikes.
So no, they probably have no dedicated QRF to go bag some guy they downed.
Agreed, there’s also a big difference between the US sending four planes and helicopters to track a GPS signal in mountainous terrain versus Iran sending ground troops and villagers to search for someone with no locator who’s actively evading capture. Which approach do you think would locate the person faster?
Iran is not as STUPID as the US to send their planes and helis to get potentially blown up, to find one fucking guy.... They literally blew the first plane up, waited for the rescue attempt, and blew that up too.
And that precisely is why we're going to lose (already lost) this war.....
True, but no dedicated QRF was alleged. Merely a lot of guys with AKs operating in their own backyard.
Sure. Which isn't going to get that job done. That's why I brought up dedicated QRF. Because you'd need one to actually make a capture.
Lots and lots of the country isn't inhabitated by people with much communication equipment more precise than a radio.
And the Iranian leadership has been doing their level best to keep those guys from invading Iraq anyway.
Guys with AKs and no comms worked pretty well against the Chinooks in Operation Red Wings. And that was only 12 guys. (well, a few more by the time the QRF came in, but still.)
Iran presumably also has, or should have, scouting capability with drones.
Iran didn’t confirm shit. Their news site literally says that they foiled the attempts and shot down two c-130s and blackhawks attempting a rescue.
I was being very generous even assuming that they managed to rescue the pilot in my write up.
If I wanna go with what Iran is saying… the entire rescue op was a complete failure.
You think the IRGC can just magically teleport to where the pilot is? Through uninhabited mountainous terrain? They don’t even know where he landed because he could be anywhere and mobile. This isn’t a video game.
The second the guy was shot down the US sent rescue forces to his exact location because they had him on GPS and pulled him out while suffering more losses.
No, they said Trump "ran away" and then emphasized the destruction of the assets, tacitly admitting to the story. They didn't announce that the crew had been killed or captured.
Oh, but the Americans can? Literally in Iran's backyard?
Now you are admitting that the rescue op was successful. Lol. How did the Americans pick up his electronic beacon and the Iranians didn't? Maybe Americans have superior technology designed for exactly this condition?
Listen to yourself.
"The US Army’s so-called rescue operation, which was planned in the form of a deceive and immediate escape operation under the pretext of rescuing the pilot of its downed aircraft in an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan, was brought to a complete failure by the timing presence of the Iranian armed forces,” Lieutenant-Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaqari said on Sunday."
They literally said "brought to a complete failure".
Stop misleading people. Read.
I'll break it down for you in caveman speak:
Helicopter can fly. Helicopter fast. Foot soldier and car not fast, no fly. Fly in mountainous terrain = good.
Never admitted anything, I presented it as one possible scenario out of two.
"How come Iranian's can't use GPS which is owned by the US Military???"
Yeah, AKA bullshit. If they had killed or captured the crew, they would've said that. Why are you only good at filtering propaganda from ZOG?
The helicopters are flying in from outside Iran's borders through an air defense network. Man, you are retarded lol
Oh yeah btw, GPS is a one-way technology. You can't transmit your location info to a GPS satellite.
Why would they? There is no guarantee they'd say that, that is your assumption, don't pass it off as fact.
Maybe they don't want to gloat about killing a downed pilot because that makes them seem like the "bad guys". You don't know what their propaganda goals are.
Because Zognald and his crew have been openly lying to us for fucking months now? Are you serious dude?
How many times have we declared "victory" in this "special operation" that was only supposed to last 2 days? I just saw a clip of zoggy saying "regime change was never our goal" LOL, okay sure.
The man cannot say a single sentence without it being a lie. And you're questioning why somebody wouldn't trust them?
If so, the Iranian story of them shooting down both helis and the rescue being a "complete failure" is likely correct.
I gave you the benefit of the doubt by assuming the pilot was rescued, like I mentioned earlier. But you're trying to make it seem like it's my assertion. Argue in good faith, stop spreading lies.
Stop playing technology semantics and just admit you lost the argument.
The point is, the pilot has a personal locator beacon and it transmits his location in a encrypted manner to the rescuers. Iran cannot intercept that unless they have way stronger SIGINT than we know about.
Hahahahaha, that's the opening line of your post. Pick up wherever you dropped your brain cells, buddy.
hahaha.. no.. we're not. This is a pathetic display.
The military was "good" in WW2 because capable men stepped up. Then the minute that conflict was over they bailed and went back to being civilians. We also spent like a year and half training for that war.
No "all volunteer peace time assembled" force is going to be capable of jack shit. Unless you're fighting a significantly weaker opponent. This is the Dick Cheney doctrine. Going to war with what you have not what you should have.
You're just vibecasting, dude. You have no point of reference to prove anything you're saying.
I'm saying what I believe. I'm sorry this is so difficult for you to process that you have to invent faggoty terms to describe it. Are the type of person who struggles with honesty?
kek. Where's your point of reference? You disagree, and you can't intellectually process that, I get it, but, do you have an actual argument to present? Or just ineffectual whinging?
You just posted... nothing
This nonsense is going to be a recruitment film in 3 years from Hollywood. Assuming there is an America at that point.
This seems like a good explanation as to what's going on with Iranian air defense.
https://xcancel.com/ripplebrain/status/2040144764494885275#m
Their old Soviet and more modern Russian AAA are no joke. Unless every mission is being run exclusively by F-22 Raptors, B2 bombers and the TR-3B, I anticipate more losses. Funny enough the Russians and Ukrainians seem to have figured this out by almost exclusively using the smaller and cheaper drones for recon and suicide attacks.
These older systems also seem to be less susceptible to cyber attacks, which may be the biggest benefit to Iran out of anything other than the terrain of Persia. They just need to hold out long enough for ZOG to be satisfied with the damage done to their (highly decentralized) government and it’ll be back to business as usual, but with a lot more oil money than before.
I like the theory it was actually a staging site for an invasion and Iran destroyed it. Also total BS that there were no additional casualties. Not possible.
If the F-15 shootdown was a cover story, then Iran agreed to support that story? No.
I agree with this. We may hear more details trickling in over time.
For out American servicemen and women, this is great news and I’m glad of the rescues, but this is all just a total nightmare that shouldn't be happening. Sure, excuses like “plane takedowns aren’t out the norm,” but we’re being told “they have not even BB guns left and all their capabilities destroyed,” also the questionable takedown of an F-35 is still looming, and an A-10 warthog is noooo joke and a sky tank of total hell destruction.
With all that aside, just think of the Moneyyyyy, not just in the loss of that equipment, but the money to replace everything downed/destroyed—along with every bomb, rocket, missile, thaad, Patriot interceptor and on and on, plus all of Its reals expenditures, our country will be sucked even dryer, more in debt to have to replace to, and why the new 1.5T Military budget put forth while slashing either 50% to 75% to completely ceasing tons and tons of domestic programs from grants to farmers, to healthcare, to public school stuff. It’s worse than America last, its America losing beyond getting nothing
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/budget_fy2027.pdf
I think you're reading too much into this.
Anybody who reacts to this with anything but joy is either a retard or an enemy, or more likely both.
sure. you can consider me your enemy. then again you always were since you supplied and fought with the communists.