this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
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A US F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing at US air base in the Middle East after it was struck by what is believed to be Iranian fire, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for US Central Command, said the fifth-generation stealth jet was “flying a combat mission over Iran” when it was forced to make an emergency landing. Hawkins said the aircraft landed safely and the incident is under investigation.

The incident would be the first time Iran has hit a US aircraft in the war started in late February. Both the US and Israel are flying F-35s in the conflict; the aircraft costs upwards of $100 million.

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[–] compast@lemmy.zip 2 points 51 minutes ago

This is heavily sanctioned crippled iran

Imagine what would china do to amrikkkans if they went war over taiwan

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 6 points 11 hours ago

Tax dollars at work.

You actually think that because USA spends the most money on military that they'd have the most valuable military? I'm sorry to inform you that perhaps the military is in the same shape as your health care, which is also the most expensive in the world.

Grifting is a hell of a politic to count on when you actually need the stuff that you've already paid for.

[–] Mk23simp@lemmy.blahaj.zone 38 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

Now they need to choose whether they want to blame Iran for it to claim that Iran is evil or to claim that Iran couldn't have done it because the F-35 is too advanced for Iran to be able to hit.

[–] elucubra@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 hour ago

The pilot was smoking

[–] Mrkawfee@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

So many to choose from! Its like Christmas for excuses

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 31 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

Everyone knows—the only force advanced enough to hit an F-35 is Antifa.

[–] expatriado@lemmy.world 13 points 17 hours ago

we did it guys!

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 6 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

Wait, but I thought these things are invisible...

[–] TheMightyCat@ani.social 5 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (2 children)

For the all the probably hundreds of sorties flown with a result of zero losses and only a single aircraft being damaged they might aswell be invisible.

[–] 0_o7@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 hours ago

When your targets are farmers and civilians, they don't usually fire back. So much winning tho.

[–] somethingsnappy@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

What's the US version of tankies?

[–] 0_o7@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

Wankies, and they're out in force.

[–] TheMightyCat@ani.social 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

You don't have to be a tankie or a wankie to recognize the fact that a loss ratio of 0% is very good for an aircraft.

If it was a Russian or Chinese aircraft doing this then that would also be a fact.

It's stupid to say that a single aircraft being damaged makes the entire type worthless like many here are saying when the F-35 is the only aircraft flying these missions and come back with only damage to a single plane.

That is not a political statement or approval of the strikes. That's just a statement on the plane.

[–] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 8 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (2 children)

Stealth is not invisibility, it's a combination of technologies that make planes hard to detect by sensors such as radar.

The video the Iranians released showed an F-35 that was within visual range of an anti-air asset before being hit.

No confirmation if that video is legitimate. We'll just have to wait for more information.

[–] fox2263@lemmy.world 7 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Trump literally thought they were invisible during a meeting in his first term.

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 hours ago

Trump can barely grasp that the sun is bright. Remember Trump is quite possibly the human incarnation of the words fucktard.

[–] InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

No confirmation if that video is legitimate. We'll just have to wait for more information.

Centcom doesn't seem to be denying it. Tho the video I've seen going around has an abrupt cut when the plane was hit. So likely it was hit but not taken down.

[–] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

I guess Whiskey Leaks intelligence got it wrong when Chat GPT said that all Iranian soldiers had their eyes replaced with radars.

[–] leoj@piefed.social 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

If India wasn't going to make the buy before... I bet they don't now! (unless we give them a helluva deal)... Also wonder what Canada is going to do about their order!

[–] mrdown@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago

Never underestimate countries licking the american empire boots no matter what

[–] Reygle@lemmy.world 4 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

the aircraft landed safely

Shame.

[–] GuyIncognito@lemmy.ca 8 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

They're saying that the pilot is in stable condition, which implies the pilot was wounded.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 6 points 13 hours ago
[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml -1 points 15 hours ago

At least there's a silver lining

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

I thought those were supposed to be ~~unsinkable~~ ~~unshootdownable~~ sneaky beaky. How are the latest gripen's stats?

Can I unload a little?Skip this if you want. This is some train of thought emotional rambling about my family. This also makes me a little sad because my little cousin, who may be a doofus about some things but we love him is a genius about other things and he helped design the F35 when he was at Lockheed. It's weird to have that little amount of pride in weapons of war thinking "my bro built that, look how fancy" but like, every one of those quarterly icbm test launches, like, my great uncle was on the design team for the minuteman. We do a pilgrimage out to thiokol every ten years as a family to recognize the sacrifice and achievement. It's fucking weird to have that pride and fear and sadness at the same time.

[–] RamRabbit@lemmy.world 4 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

I thought those were supposed to be sneaky beaky.

Given how many hundreds of sorties over a hostile country, and only one damaged? Yeah, they are pretty damn sneaky.

[–] coolcat1711@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 12 hours ago

It's unfortunate how tightly coupled military, engineering and $$ are. If you want the last two, you're working with the first...

[–] kokesh@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago

Hopefully there are more to come (down).