A second United States Air Force combat aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf region on Friday as rescue teams continued searching for a missing crew member from a downed F-15E Strike Eagle, according to two U.S. officials cited by The New York Times.
The second aircraft, an A-10 Thunderbolt II, went down near the Strait of Hormuz, and its pilot was safely rescued, the officials said.
The crash occurred around the same time that an F-15E was shot down over Iran, where one crew member has already been recovered and search teams continue looking for the second.
I wonder how badly this could have gone had Iran’s military been at their prime.
They used to have a seriously competent airforce which they could have easily transitioned into modern Chinese tech had they invested into it.
Even now without it, they have a bloody history of a war with Iraq in which they also had to defend with a terrible lack of parts and supplies.
I still feel bad that their successful hit on an F-35 didn’t result in a kill considering they had to hit it at close range with an IR missile.
The US military is also arguably not at it’s prime now either - but I’d say Iran is much better equipped now than it was a decade ago (when Trump nixed Obama’s nuclear agreement).