Iran shot down two US warplanes on Friday, with two pilots rescued and a third still missing and being hunted by Tehran. The first plane, a two-seat US F-15E jet, was shot down in Iran, with US media reporting that American special forces had rescued one of its two crew members, with the other still missing.
The US F-15E Strike Eagle, a $31.1 million aircraft (about Rs 289 crore), carries a pilot and weapons system officer. It was unclear which of the two was rescued.The second plane, an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft, which costs about $18.8 million (around Rs 174 crore) per jet, was hit and crashed over Kuwait, with the pilot ejecting.
The last time an American fighter jet was shot down by enemy fire was reportedly during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.
Two Black Hawk helicopters that were involved in the search effort for the missing pilot were also hit by Iran but made it out of Iranian airspace, two US officials told news agency Reuters.
Neither the White House nor the Pentagon released public information about the downed planes, but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump "has been briefed".
Trump, speaking to NBC News, said the F-15 loss would not affect negotiations with Iran, saying, "No, not at all. No, it's war."
The incident comes over a week after Trump said that Iran's military had been defeated to the point that "we literally have planes flying over Tehran and other parts of their country."
"They can't do a thing about it," he had said.
Iran also reportedly damaged a US' CH-47 Chinook helicopter at Camp Buehring base in Kuwait in a drone attack.
Iranian forces have repeatedly targeted American military sites in Kuwait and other Gulf countries.
