Pinpoint Intel, 04.04.26: What two downed jets tells us about the Iran war

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Not dead yet. President Trump has said repeatedly that Iran is essentially defeated. But Iran is not behaving that way. During the last few days, it shot down an F-15 Air Force fighter jet and a Navy A-10 Warthog attack plane. The A-10 pilot and one of the two F-15 pilots are safe. The Pentagon hasn’t said anything about the other F-15 pilot, which is worrisome. The plane went down over Iran, so presumably the pilot is on the ground there.

Pentagon officials told members of Congress that two rescue helicopters involved in the F-15 pilot rescue took fire and had to retreat. That’s ominous. If the Iranians capture the pilot, everybody will know right away because they’ll try to exploit it for propaganda value. The pilot could also be dead, injured or hiding. Pilot rescues in hostile terrain can be dangerous and dramatic. Fingers crossed.

Iranian media claims this is part of an American F-15 fighter jet Iran shot down. Photo via @Osinttechnial X account.

Those two types of jets are older, non-stealthy models, and the A-10 is particularly slow and vulnerable. They must have been flying over areas where the US military thought the air-defense threat was minimal. That means the Iranians mostly likely got off a couple of lucky shots with missile launchers that were hidden and mobile, rolling them out to shoot, then rushing them back into hiding.

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There could be a lot more of this as American pilots fly lower to root out weapons one by one, especially along the coast, as part of the effort to clear threats to ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.