USAF Pilot Suffered Shrapnel Wounds after F-35 Hit Over Iran

A U.S. Air Force F-35A pilot suffered shrapnel wounds after their aircraft was damaged during a combat mission over Iran on March 19, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The aircraft was hit by ground fire. Though U.S. Central Command has not provided details, the aircraft was most likely damaged by a surface-to-air missile rather than by small-arms fire or another projectile, given the altitude at which the F-35 typically flies. The incident is under investigation, according to U.S. military officials.

The aircraft later made an emergency landing at an air base in the region, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command previously said, adding that the pilot was in “stable condition.”

A spokesperson for Central Command declined to comment March 22 when asked about the incident.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps posted a video on March 19 purporting to show an F-35 being targeted and struck by an Iranian air defense system. The authenticity of the video has not been confirmed. 

On March 22, Iran said it unsuccessfully targeted an F-15E Strike Eagle with a surface-to-air missile near the Iranian coast. The semi-official Tasnim news agency posted a video of a purported engagement in which the targeted aircraft appears to dispense flares to counter the threat. Air & Space Forces Magazine has not confirmed the authenticity of Iran’s claims or of the video.

In the March 19 incident, the IRGC said that it “severely damaged” the F-35 in its strike. The U.S. military has not commented on the extent of damage to the aircraft.

Iran has developed air defense systems that can use passive infrared sensors rather than radar to target aircraft, a solution that previously proved effective in Yemen when employed by the Iranian-backed Houthis, which downed around half a dozen MQ-9 Reapers during Operation Rough Rider last year. The stealthy F-35 evades radar, but infrared sensors home in on heat.

The F-35 is now one of around 20 U.S. Air Force aircraft known to be damaged or destroyed in the nearly three-week-old Iran war.

Three F-15E Strike Eagles were shot down by Kuwaiti F/A-18 aircraft in a friendly fire incident on March 2, according to people familiar with that incident. All crew members were recovered safely.

On March 12, a KC-135 Stratotanker crashed in western Iraq, killing all six Airmen aboard. Another KC-135 had its tail severely damaged in the same incident but landed safely. In a March 14 social media post, President Donald Trump appeared to confirm that at least one KC-135 was damaged on the ground by Iranian attacks on Saudi Arabia.

As of roughly a week ago, about a dozen MQ-9 Reaper drones had been lost in the conflict. Some of the losses occurred while the aircraft were damaged on the ground by Iran, people familiar with the matter said. Iran has launched retaliatory missile and drone attacks on U.S. bases in the region since the conflict began. The Reaper losses have not been publicly announced.