The US Air Force pilot whose F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down by Iran in April was knocked out of the sky by friendly fire in Kuwait a month earlier, it has been revealed.
The unidentified pilot was one of six American airmen who ejected safely when three $70 million F-15E Strike Eagle jets were shot down by a single Kuwaiti F/A-18 on March 2, military sources told outlet The High Side earlier this month.
After ejecting, all recovered without injury.
That incident occurred while Kuwait was under attack from Iran and the cause is still under investigation, according to US CENTCOM.
The same pilot was downed again April 3 while flying another F-15E Strike Eagle — struck by an Iranian missile in the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province in the southwestern part of the country near Iraq.
Before ejecting from the cockpit and landing behind enemy lines, the pilot reported seeing a “jellyfish” like formation of Iranian drones, which he described as “real alien s–t”, according to military officials who spoke to CNN.
by Kuwaiti forces on March 2. via REUTERS
The airman was rescued by US Special Operations forces within half a day, sustaining only minor injuries. The unidentified weapons system officer, who sat in the back seat of the cockpit, was stranded on the ground in Iran for 36 hours with a $60,000 bounty on their head.
That airman climbed a 7,000-foot-ridge with a broken leg and hid in a crevice in the Zagros Mountains while US forces conducted the daring operation that saw two MC-130J Commando II transports destroyed and a MH-6/AH-6 Little Bird Helicopter also downed.
US CENTCOM referred The Post to a statement from President Trump at the time of the WSO’s rescue from Iranian territory.
“It’s a hard decision to make, but in the U.S. military, we leave no American behind; we don’t do it,” Trump said.
