Three US fighter jets accidentally shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses, military says

[BumRushDaShow]

Last edited Mon Mar 2, 2026, 06:54 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: CNN World

Updated Mar 2, 2026, 6:26 AM ET
PUBLISHED Mar 2, 2026, 3:19 AM ET


Three US fighter jets crashed in Kuwait on Monday due to an “apparent friendly fire incident,” the US military said in a statement.

Kuwaiti air defenses accidentally shot the F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets down late Sunday evening ET time. All six crew members ejected safely, US Central Command said. The cause of the incident is under investigation, according to CENTCOM. The jets were flying in support of the military operation against Iran, dubbed Operation Epic Fury.

Kuwait’s defense ministry had said in the early hours of Monday morning that “several” US fighter jets crashed but did not specify exactly how many or what had caused it. The fighter jets each cost tens of millions of dollars. The statement comes after videos geolocated by CNN showed a fighter jet crashing in Kuwait and a pilot parachuting to the ground.

CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/02/middleeast/us-kuwait-aircraft-crash-iran-intl-hnk

---

Article updated.

Original article/headline -

Kuwait's defense ministry says 'several' US military aircraft have crashed, all crews survived

Updated Mar 2, 2026, 3:54 AM ET
PUBLISHED Mar 2, 2026, 3:19 AM ET


Kuwait’s Ministry of Defense said “several United States military aircraft crashed” on Monday and that “all crew members survived.”

The statement comes after videos geolocated by CNN showed a fighter jet crashing in Kuwait and a pilot parachuting to the ground. The video appeared to show an F-15E fighter jet, according to a CNN analysis. It’s unclear what caused the crashes of the aircraft, which each cost tens of millions of dollars. CNN has reached out to US Central Command and the White House for comment.

“Relevant authorities immediately initiated search-and-rescue operations,” Kuwait’s defense ministry spokesperson Col. Said Al-Atwan said in the statement. “The crews were evacuating from the crash sites and transferred to hospital to assess their condition and provided necessary medical care,” he said.

The crew members are in a “stable” condition, the ministry added. Al-Atwan said Kuwait was in “direct coordination” with US authorities.

[Layzeebeaver]

2. There is no mention of hotels

Your comment is in rather poor taste.

[Hope22]

44. It's interesting...

The poorest taste appears to be in fools letting a monster set the mission plan. We will never know what actually happened here. I’m glad the crews are safe and in medical care. The loss of the equipment is going to add up quickly. Is the plan to deplete our military. Or maybe just no plan….

[KS Toronado]

38. .....

[Skittles]

50. they're getting more desperate now

love the ones who try to educate us on how this cluster fuck is a good thing

[KS Toronado]

53. Oh you mean RW talking points?

This one had plenty of them.

[Skittles]

54. I always wonder about our supposed "fly under the radar" trolls

DON'T THEY HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO? I resent that they are allowed to shit in the ONE oasis I have from repuke garbage

[riversedge]

3. "....several U.S. military aircraft crashed this morning, confirming the complete safety of their crews."

Link to tweet

?s=20
.........The spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense stated that several U.S. military aircraft crashed this morning, confirming the complete safety of their crews.

He explained that the relevant authorities immediately initiated search and rescue procedures, whereby the crews were evacuated and transferred to the hospital to check on their health status and provide the necessary medical care, noting that their condition is stable.

The official spokesperson added that direct coordination was conducted with the friendly U.S. forces regarding the circumstances of the incident, and joint technical measures were taken.

He affirmed that the concerned authorities are following up on the investigations to determine the causes of the incident, calling for information to be obtained from its official sources.....................................
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/f15-crash-kuwait-iran-war-b2930014.html

[Prairie Gates]

15. The highly competent and believable Kuwaiti army shot down three planes in a morning

Riiiiiiiight.

[herding cats]

4. Friendly fire from Kuwait it appears

The Pentagon said this morning that "apparent friendly fire" brought down three U.S. fighter jets over Kuwait during Operation Epic Fury, confirming an earlier report from the Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense.

CENTCOM said that three F-15D Strike Eagle planes were mistakenly shot down by Kuwait's air defense systems.

"During active combat — that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones — the U.S. Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses," it said.

"All six aircrew ejected safely, have been safely recovered, and are in stable condition," the Pentagon said. "Kuwait has acknowledged this incident, and we are grateful for the efforts of the Kuwaiti defense forces and their support in this ongoing operation."

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/middle-east/live-blog/live-updates-iran-war-israel-us-hezbollah-lebanon-khamenei-trump-rcna261259/rcrd102394?canonicalCard=true

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Definitely not a good sign.

But I am seeing conflicting search results on whether they were F-15Ds or F-15Es.

The AI "guessing" is in full force this morning.

[herding cats]

6. I noticed the same!

It's so frustrating.

[Bengus81]

31. With AI it could have been three Cessna 182's

[BumRushDaShow]

32. Or maybe even

Epstein's Gulfstream G550!!!

[yardwork]

34. If only!

[RoseTrellis]

46. Definitely not F-15D

The F-15D is only used as a trainer, and lacks several subsystems to make room for that role, and the second seat. They were never intended for combat use. It was definitely not a D model.

[BumRushDaShow]

48. That's what I had found searching around

although it's possible they had some "newbies" out and about and why you had that number of plane losses. I don't think I have seen reported how many were "ejected" before their planes went down. If they were in "E"s, then there would have been 6 crew members (assuming a full compliment) who would have bailed.

[Prairie Gates]

14. I saw a video of one crashing...the plane was not hit by anything in the video

It could have been damaged anytime previously and simply lost power on the video.

In any case, the video of the plane going down and the pilots being recovered is clear enough, so I guess the Pentagon had to say something.

[ruet]

28. Video Here.

https://www.reddit.com/r/war/comments/1rikd4e/an_american_aircraft_was_hit_in_the_skies_over/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[Prairie Gates]

29. That's a different video than the one I'm referring to

I don't think this one tells us that much either about what hit it.

CENTCOM claims that all planes were engaged with Iranian aircraft and air defenses and then were shot down by Kuwaiti air defense.

[OldBaldy1701E]

7. "...which each cost tens of millions of dollars."

No matter what the situation is...no matter what the outcome, the reasons, the human toll, the damage to community...

They have to make sure to mention the monetary cost.

Because money is the only important thing that matters. Then rest is just minutiae.

(You watch, once this conflict is over, the main talking point from both sides will be about money.)

[70sEraVet]

9. It has become a political tradition to speak of "treasure" -- as if we were pirates.

And, I guess, in many ways we are. Or should I say, "Arrrr!"

[OldBaldy1701E]

16. Yep.

We were programmed to think that way, and I am sad to say the programming worked like gangbusters.

We are being led by the wallet and we don't care.

[Lonestarblue]

8. When you rush into war with incompetent leaders like Trump and Hegseth, important communication gets lost.

Where's the battle plan and the coordination with other countries? I suspect it doesn't exist. Our experienced military leaders know what they're doing, but how many of them have been replaced with Trump sycophants with the Hegseth mentality of just go in and blow everything up. We'll show them who's boss.

[karynnj]

33. When the Obama administration led the anti ISIS coalition,

I suddenly learned the word, deconfliction as many people involved spoke of how, while not working jointly with Iran and Russia, we made sure that we didn't get in each other's way as all of us fought against ISIS.

Trump is not even coordinating with our allies.

[twodogsbarking]

10. Will this war last 20 years and cost three hundred million dollars a day like that other one?

With little or nothing accomplished. How 'bout that DOW though.

[Aviation Pro]

11. Guess their IFF failed

Last edited Mon Mar 2, 2026, 08:07 AM - Edit history (1)

Identification Friend Foe

This will be one epithet for Operation Epstein.

[Deminpenn]

39. Same thought crossed my mind about the IFF

nt

[Efilroft Sul]

12. Criminy, the husband of my wife's cousin copilots one of those, and I know he's deployed over there.

Glad to hear all crew members survived, if that's to be believed.

[Efilroft Sul]

52. Those airmen are all in his squadron.

[Prairie Gates]

13. Buuuuuullllshhhhhhhittttt

[Bengus81]

17. Things are going just swimmingly huh Trump? Betting the DOW tanks 1000 points

Or do they want to be seen as happy ass War profiteers after dead soldiers and three jets shot down?

[Layzeebeaver]

18. Obviously a Highly Coordinated Military Operation

This disgusts me.

A core aspect of basing assets in foreign lands is to assure US force projection and joint protection. A key part of that is highly integrated interoperability between allied comms and detection systems.

This has all the flavour of "Operation Cluster Fuck"

[Mr. Scorpio]

25. This is the outcome of firing all of those commanders and IGs from the beginning

The DUI hire should be handing in his resignation immediately.

Instead he's going to pass the blame to subordinates.

[jmbar2]

19. Bum, really appreciating you this morning

You are a reliable poster of accurate news links - truly a good contributor during times of mass disinformation. Thank you.

[BumRushDaShow]

20. ...

It's not easy and it's a Full Moon so all kinds of wild things are going on.

[orangecrush]

21. ...

Appreciate you!

[BumRushDaShow]

22. !!!

Makes one wonder if they had turned off their IFFs...

[Mr. Scorpio]

23. Incompetence...

That's the answer.

How do you target and open fire on fighters with friendly transponders?

Where is the command and control?

Shit like this gets Wing and Group commanders sacked.

[BumRushDaShow]

24. And a pleasant good morning to you!

(long time no see)

[Mr. Scorpio]

26. I just finished a goal today

I'm taking a break. It's good to be back.

[BumRushDaShow]

27. Congrats and I hear ya

The past year has been a nightmare and this year hasn't let up.

[Johnny2X2X]

30. It's a clown show

They did almost no planning and then just started bombing.

The idiots in charge don't understand that the more planning you do, the less you will lose.

[Nasruddin]

41. Maybe it's worse than that

see below...

[Deminpenn]

42. Same mistake as with the Iraq war when Rumsfeld

didn't care about the logistics tail that fighting and winning any war/conflict requires.

The US should not expect any help from European Allies who fly US made aircraft and have stock of repair parts and/or equipment.

[Miguelito Loveless]

35. "Ejected safely"

Umm, I'll wait for the long term determination here. A jet struck by a missile requiring the crew to bail can inflict serious harm to the crew. Shrapnel wounds, spinal compression injuries, concussions, etc.

[Prairie Gates]

36. One of the recovered pilots had a pretty mangled hand in one image

[Deminpenn]

43. Yes, the ejection seat is fired off by an explosive under the seat.

The new ejection seats are designed to send the crew into the air far enough for their parachutes to be deployed if the plane is near ground level.

[Deminpenn]

37. At a cost of 90-100M per F-15

Not to mention the F-15 is a superior fighter aircraft to the F/A-18.

[Nasruddin]

40. 1,2,3 infinity

“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action” --Ian Fleming

[OmegaX]

56. Came here for this...

...leaving satisfied.

You're exactly correct, friend...

[republianmushroom]

45. Just a little friendly fire

nothing to get excited about, correct Whiskey Pete ?

[Mosby]

47. Video of Kuwaitis trying to help.

Link to tweet

[Skittles]

49. CLUSTER FUCK

where is DOGE on THIS BULLSHIT

[no_hypocrisy]

51. Hegseth: Shit happens.

Trump: You owe me $ 3 billion in Bitcoins.

[orangecrush]

55. Accidentally on purpose

[Griefbird]

57. Operation "Epic Fury"

In my world, fury is a result of weakness and loss of control. Focused and competent people get results, not angry.

[DrFunkenstein]

58. Well, That's $270 Million I'll Never Get Back

Could have bought quite a bit of butter with those tax dollars...

[KPN]

59. Maybe change the name "Department of War"

to Keystone Cops. All fired up and ready to go — all about lethality, annihilation, etc., and no thinking.

[Evolve Dammit]

60. Well, there goes a billion of our money. For what? Let's hear something coherent