Iran boasted Saturday that a new air defense system — credited with shooting down two US planes — will allow it to “definitely achieve full control” over its airspace as American and Israel forces continued to hammer the country.
Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya joint military command made the bold claim on state media, Reuters reported.
The besieged Islamic Republic could have used a Third Khordad missile system, a mobile medium-range surface-to-air defense system, to shoot down the F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet, The New York Times reported.
residents in Southern Iran on Friday, Iran state media reported. OSINTdefender/x
Other experts suspect that Iran used passive infrared detection systems to track and target the US aircraft – meaning it tracked the F-15E without emitting radar signals that US jets are equipped to detect and evade, according to ABC News.
That $31 million plane is believed to have gone down in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province in the southwestern part of Iran, near the Iraqi border. The pilots were forced to bail, and while one was rescued after the Friday incident, the second has yet to be found.
missing behind enemy lines as of Saturday. via REUTERS
An A-10 Thunderbolt II “Warthog” attack aircraft was hit during a subsequent rescue mission for the missing pilot, but crashed after reaching Kuwaiti airspace, with the pilot safely ejecting.
These were the first confirmed losses of US aircraft in Iran since the start of the war on Feb. 28. The US military hit more than 12,300 targets in the conflict so far.
US officials have claimed the sustained bombing campaign has degraded Tehran’s missile and drone capabilities by more than 90%.
With the F-15E’s weapons systems officer missing, armed Iranian nomads have joined the hunt as officials are offering reportedly a $60,000 bounty while calling on civilians to join in the manhunt.
