An F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over southwestern Iran and an A-10 Thunderbolt II went down near the Strait of Hormuz on April 3 — the worst single-day airpower loss of Operation Epic Fury.
The U.S. Air Force lost two combat aircraft in a single day Thursday when an F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over southwestern Iran and an A-10 Thunderbolt II was downed near the Strait of Hormuz, marking the most significant single-day degradation of American airpower since Operation Epic Fury began Feb. 28.
The F-15E pilot was recovered. The aircraft’s weapons systems officer remains missing.
The F-15E, assigned to the 494th Fighter Squadron of the 48th Fighter Wing based at RAF Lakenheath, England, was struck by hostile fire while conducting a strike mission over Khuzestan Province, a region of high strategic value due to its concentration of oil infrastructure and proximity to Iran’s southern coastline. Both crew members — a pilot and a weapons systems officer — ejected before the airframe impacted the ground. HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters recovered the pilot, but the WSO remained missing as of the latest operational reports.
Hours later, an A-10 Thunderbolt II conducting maritime interdiction operations in the southern waters near the Strait of Hormuz was also downed. The pilot steered the damaged aircraft away from Iranian-controlled territory toward Kuwaiti airspace before ejecting over the Persian Gulf. American forces recovered the pilot, who is in stable condition. Iranian state media claimed their air defense systems successfully targeted the “enemy” attack aircraft, marking what they described as the first combat loss of an A-10 in the conflict.
A Threat That Cannot Be Jammed
Defense analysts assessed that both aircraft were most likely struck by man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADS — shoulder-fired, infrared-guided missiles that home in on engine heat signatures and emit no radar signal before launch. Unlike fixed surface-to-air missile batteries targeted in the opening weeks of Operation Epic Fury, MANPADS cannot be neutralized through radar-suppression missions because they leave no electronic trace until the moment of firing.
The F-15E involved was equipped with the Eagle Passive/Active Warning and Survivability System, an all-digital electronic warfare suite designed to provide 360-degree battlespace awareness and intended to make the aircraft “survivable in highly contested environments.” Its failure against a passive infrared seeker underscored a fundamental vulnerability: electronic warfare can blind radar-guided systems, but it has no effect on a weapon that never emits a signal.
The A-10, which features a 1,200-pound titanium-armored cockpit and redundant flight control systems specifically designed for high-survivability in contested environments, was no better protected against the same class of threat. Its loss indicated that Iranian coastal defenses along the Strait had reached a density capable of defeating even the most hardened attack platforms.
Strait at the Center of the Fight
The A-10 had been assigned to hunt Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy fast-attack watercraft in the Strait of Hormuz — a narrow corridor through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas transits daily. Commercial shipping through the strait has effectively ceased since the outbreak of hostilities.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has stated that “Iran’s power is the Hormuz Strait,” a posture backed by the deployment of coastal defense batteries and fast-attack craft designed to harass commercial tankers and mine the waterway. Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had recently praised the A-10’s unique utility in the “southern flank” of the war. The aircraft’s loss underscored the cost of prosecuting that mission.
Recovery Mission Takes Fire
The search for the missing F-15E weapons systems officer immediately drew additional coalition assets into the same threat environment. Combat search and rescue operations in Operation Epic Fury are conducted primarily by Air Force Pararescuemen supported by HH-60G Pave Hawks and HC-130J Combat King II tanker-transports, all flying at low altitudes to stay beneath the detection envelope of Iranian long-range radar systems — the same altitude band where MANPADS are most lethal.
The helicopter that extracted the F-15E pilot was struck by small arms fire during the recovery. The aircraft landed safely, but multiple crew members sustained injuries. Iranian state-affiliated media, including Tasnim News Agency and state broadcaster IRIB, published images of wreckage and broadcast offers of rewards for the capture of U.S. service members, complicating the ongoing search.
Scale of the Loss
April 3 ended a 23-year hiatus in which no U.S. fighter had been shot down in combat. The last such loss occurred April 8, 2003, when an A-10A was struck by an Iraqi surface-to-air missile over Baghdad.
The Air Force has now lost five manned fixed-wing aircraft during Operation Epic Fury — four F-15E Strike Eagles and one A-10 — along with 17 MQ-9 Reaper drones, eight KC-135 Stratotankers — six damaged on the ground, two lost in a mid-air collision — and two E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control aircraft — one destroyed on the ground, one damaged. Three of the four F-15E losses were attributed to friendly fire. Total coalition attrition costs are estimated at more than $3 billion. An F-35 Lightning II was also struck by hostile fire and successfully recovered.
The White House had recently asserted the operation was “nearing completion” and that Iranian radar had been “100 percent annihilated.” President Trump dismissed the aircraft losses as the “cost of war.” U.S. Central Command is expected to surge additional fighter squadrons and increase the frequency of B-52 Stratofortress bomber strikes in response to the incidents.
The search for the missing weapons systems officer continues.
Key Takeaways
- The U.S. Air Force lost an F-15E Strike Eagle and an A-10 Thunderbolt II on April 3, 2026 — the most significant single-day airpower loss of Operation Epic Fury, which began Feb. 28.
- The F-15E pilot was recovered; the weapons systems officer remains missing. The A-10 pilot was rescued and is in stable condition.
- Both aircraft are assessed to have been downed by shoulder-fired MANPADS, which use passive infrared guidance and cannot be defeated by electronic warfare.
- The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed to commercial shipping, disrupting roughly 20% of global oil and LNG supply.
- The losses ended a 23-year stretch without a U.S. combat aircraft shot down by enemy fire, bringing confirmed manned fixed-wing losses in the conflict to five airframes at a total coalition attrition cost exceeding $3 billion.