Kuwaiti F/A-18 Hornet — Not Patriot Missile — Shot Down Three U.S. F-15E Jets

Three F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft were reportedly shot down by a Kuwaiti F/A-18 Hornet in a friendly fire incident on March 2, not by a Patriot surface-to-air missile battery as initially believed.

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the aircraft were “mistakenly shot down” by Kuwaiti forces during active combat operations, but did not say whether they were brought down by surface-to-air or air-to-air systems. All six aircrew members ejected safely, were recovered, and are in stable condition.

The incident follows the launch of Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28, which began with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran and was followed by retaliatory drone and missile attacks across the region.

A U.S. source familiar with the matter was quoted as saying by Air & Space Forces magazine that a single Kuwaiti F/A-18 launched three air-to-air missiles, each striking an F-15E. The aircraft went down in separate incidents around 7 a.m. local time on the third day of the U.S. war against Iran.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Defense said it had “confronted a number of hostile aerial targets” around dawn and later acknowledged that several U.S. aircraft had crashed. The ministry said “joint technical measures were taken” following the incident but gave no further details.

Video circulating on social media appears to show one F-15E spiraling downward with smoke and fire from its tail section before impact, with its vertical stabilizers missing. Other clips show aircrew ejecting and descending by parachute over desert terrain.

A former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot told Air & Space Forces Magazine the incident was “perplexing,” noting that allied pilots are trained to follow Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) procedures.

“If you’re flying air defense missions, the first thing you do is interrogate using your transponder,” the former pilot said. “If you don’t have a friendly identification, then you proceed to a visual identification.”

The former pilot said the safe ejection of all six crew members suggested the aircraft may have been hit from the rear by a heat-seeking missile with a smaller warhead. It remains unclear whether the F-15Es had their transponders activated.

Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins had said earlier that it would be inappropriate to comment further while the incident remains under investigation.

The F-15E model carries a unit cost of $31.1 million in 1998 constant dollars, according to a U.S. Air Force fact sheet.