An American F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing at an American air base in the Middle East after being hit by what is believed to be a shot from Iran, according to two sources familiar with the situation quoted by CNN, News.ro reports.
Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for US Central Command, said the fifth-generation fighter jet was “flying a combat mission over Iran” when it had to make an emergency landing.
Hawkins said the aircraft landed safely and the incident is under investigation.
“The aircraft landed safely and the pilot is in a stable condition,” Hawkins added. “This incident is under investigation,” he said.
First US plane shot down by Iran
It would be the first time Iran has hit an American aircraft in the war that began at the end of February. Both the US and Israel use F-35s in this conflict; the aircraft costs more than 100 million dollars.
The emergency landing comes as senior US officials continue to maintain that this campaign against Iran is a large-scale success. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday morning that the US was “winning decisively” and that Iran's air defenses had been “destroyed”.
Another first — the first success of a state-of-the-art F-35 jet against another manned fighter jet — took place over Tehran, the Israeli military (IDF) announced on March 4.
“An Israeli Air Force F35I fighter jet recently shot down an Iranian fighter jet (YAK-130) over the city of Tehran,” the IDF announced on its X account. “This is the first time in the world that a manned fighter jet has been shot down by an F-35,” it added.
The Yakovlev Yak-130 (Nato code Mitten) is a Russian light combat and training aircraft. Its development started in 1991 and began to enter the equipment of the Russian Air Force in 2010. The Iranian Air Force received eight such devices.
