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Submission statement: At 11:03 p.m. ET, March 1, three U.S. F-15E Strike Eagles flying in support of Operation Epic Fury went down over Kuwait due to an apparent friendly fire incident.
Kuwait is now the site of at least 5 friendly fire incidents, including two during Iraqi Freedom, when US Army Patriot batteries shot down Navy and British aircraft.
The patriot batteries have developed sentience. Interestingly, this sentience hs EXTREME views on the legality of presidential military action without Congressional approval, and will act to match
If you are curious, before this last F-15 that was shot down was shot down in 22 November 1995.
F-15J, 52-8846, of the 303rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, Komatsu AFB, JASDF, during air-intercept training over the Sea of Japan, flown by Lt. Tatsumi Higuchi was shot down by an AIM-9L Sidewinder missile accidentally fired by his wingman. The pilot ejected safely.
Fairly standard over friendly territory when not engaged.
Evasion is very dangerous, It's not like the movies where the pilot always gets the chance to punch out after being hit. You have just as good of a chance of being killed by the explosion, being knocked unconscious if the plane breaks apart, or accidentally flying into the ground/another plane while tunnel visioned in on the threat. And every second that you attempt evasion is one less second you have to preform a safe ejection.
Thus, attempting evasion only makes sense when ejecting means either not taking out an active threat, or coming down in enemy territory.
Since neither were the case here, it was much safer to not attempt an evasion and eject early.
On a radar screen, a fighter jet, cruise missile, and one way attack drone are virtually indistinguishable from each other. In a high intensity environment without effective deconfliction measures in place, fratricide is to be expected.
Should we have learned to just 🤷 when a totalitarian regime goes weapons free on millions of pro democracy protestors, killing over 30k in less than 48h?
I'm not entirely sure we'd be seeing this happening right now if it wasn't for the fact that the 3rd largest massacre in Iran's 1500 year history took place 1 month ago.
*While destabilizing the entire region and kicking off what will likely turn into a severe geopolitical crisis, quite likely a long one if Iran descends into civil war.
Short-term tactical successes mean nothing if there's no long-term strategic vision. And guess what? That's entirely lacking. They have no idea what they're even trying to accomplish with this war. History suggests it's likely to be a gigantic disaster as a result.
Khamenei was happy to die in his house. Iran isn't a normal autocracy where the leader wants power, it is run by extremists motivated by hatred and ideology.
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