U.S. F-15E Shot Down Over Iran, One Airman Still Missing

The shoot-down of an F-15E Strike Eagle over central Iran on April 3 left one American airman unaccounted for as Tehran moved quickly to turn the loss into leverage: a regional Iranian governor offered a bounty for the crew's capture within hours of the aircraft going down.

Both crew members ejected; the F-15E carries a pilot and a weapons systems officer. One was recovered alive. The Pentagon notified the House Armed Services Committee that the second crew member's status is "NOT known," while Iranian state media reported Tehran promising rewards to any citizen who turns over an American service member.

The loss was the first known combat loss of a crewed U.S. aircraft during Operation Epic Fury, now in its sixth week. It came two days after President Trump told the nation that Iran had "no anti-aircraft equipment," that "their radar is 100% annihilated," and that American forces were "unstoppable as a military force." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had described Iranian airspace as under "complete control" and "uncontested" in a March 4 briefing. Asked Thursday how the U.S. would respond if the missing airman is harmed, Trump said only, "We hope that's not going to happen."

Aviation analyst Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute identified the aircraft as belonging to the 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron from wreckage photos circulated by Iranian state media. The squadron is based at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, England, home to the 48th Fighter Wing, the largest U.S. fighter operation in Europe, with approximately 7,000 active-duty personnel and four squadrons of F-15 Strike Eagles and F-35A Lightning IIs.

The F-15E was not the only aircraft lost that day. An A-10 Thunderbolt II was hit by Iranian fire in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz region; its pilot navigated out of Iranian airspace before ejecting and was rescued alive. Two U.S. search-and-rescue helicopters dispatched to locate the F-15E crew were also struck by Iranian fire, with their crews sustaining injuries but returning safely to base.

Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya central headquarters falsely claimed it had shot down a U.S. F-35, attributing the kill to a "new type of air defense system" operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The claim quickly unraveled: the F-15E carries two crew members, the F-35 one, and Iran's own wreckage photos show a tailfin consistent with a Strike Eagle. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf mocked the U.S. on X, writing that the operation had shifted from talk of regime change to "Hey! Can anyone find our pilots? Please?" He followed: "What incredible progress. Absolute geniuses."

Retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, said the losses "do not invalidate the larger reality that U.S. and allied forces have achieved a very high degree of air superiority over Iran," adding that "air superiority does not mean zero risk."

The shoot-down came against a backdrop of mounting losses. On March 19, an F-35 was damaged by hostile fire over Iran and made an emergency landing at a U.S. air base. On March 2, three F-15Es were destroyed in a friendly fire incident with Kuwaiti F/A-18 aircraft; all six crew members ejected safely. Pentagon data recorded at least 365 service members wounded: 247 Army soldiers, 63 Navy sailors, 19 Marines, and 36 Air Force airmen.

An Israeli official told the Associated Press that airstrikes had been paused in areas relevant to the search-and-rescue operation. With one American aviator still unaccounted for in hostile territory, the question of how Iran chooses to use that leverage weighs on both the operation and the administration that promised it would never arise.