Iran Shooting Down U.S. F-15E Is Worse Than We All Think

It’s April 3rd, 2026, day 35 of Operation Epic Fury, and Iran is screaming, and they’re letting everybody know that they took down an F-15E Strike Eagle. Looks like it was from the 494th Fighter Squadron out of RAF Lake and Heath. You can see that the tail on the actual pictures from the crash site show that red stripe at the top, which is aligning with that squadron at Lakeen Heath.

and Iran is claiming that it was with one of their new air defense missiles, which we’ll be covering that throughout this video. Iranian state media is saying, and the IRGC are triumphantly hailing this as proof of resilient defenses, initially claiming it was an F-35 is what their initial propaganda machine said, but they showed the wreckage, the tail wreckage specifically of the F-15E.

And then the ejection seat images that they’ve showed, those don’t look like the actual ejection seats from an F-15E. Looks like something different. The handles on the ejection seats for the F-15E are on the side, and the ones they showed are up above near the pilot’s helmet. But they’re vowing broader and more destructive retaliation, and they’re rejecting any claims of a ceasefire as well.

But here’s the part they don’t want you to hear about. while they’re celebrating about taking down an F-15E, which it looks like one of the crew members has been safely recovered. That’s the number one thing is to get the crew members back. So, looks like one of them have been safely recovered likely by Air Force par rescues and potentially other special operators getting them out of the country, but there’s still one that is being searched for.

I’ll be giving you the latest breaking news on what the operation is to try to get that second crew member. But Iran is celebrating about this while their tallest suspension bridge, the B1 bridge, 136 m high, was just hit near Karage in Iran. It could have been hit by F-15E Strike Eagles. This is a targeting solution that the F-15 E Strike Eagles practice all the time.

The bridge got cut in half by an American precision air strikes, never to be used again, or at least not for a long time. It’s a military supply route. But the big win here is the rescue of one of those F-15E crew members. And God willing, they’ll be the rescue of the second one here soon. There’s a daring multi-aircraft operation taking place right now as we speak involving HH60G pave hawks refueled by HC130s with the search for the second crew member continuing because remember in the F-15E there’s a fighter pilot in the front and

a fighter wizo in the back. Weapon systems operator in the back of that F-15E. But the F-15E hauls serious heat and weaponry. It’s a true workhorse that’s built for these deep strikes and air superiority. So these F-15E pilots are risking their lives every single day because they’re the ones that are being asked to go deep inside enemy territory.

And remember, it’s a fourth generation fighter. So with Russia and China helping Iran to advance some of their weapons systems, targeting a fourth generation fighter can happen in a lucky shot, in a oneoff, even after the different surfaceto-air missile sites have been struck down in Iran. There’s still a couple of these because the country is so massive.

There’s still some of these that exist that can do exactly what we saw happen here, but it’s one of America’s most capable fighters, the F-15E. And Iran has been able to take down one among thousands of sorties being flown by F-15, F-16s, and other aircraft. But President Trump has been briefed on this. Caroline Levit said he’s gotten the briefing, but likely right now the number one focus is making sure that every single asset is focused on trying to find that second crew member. That’s huge.

And finding that second crew member while showing Iran that their power plants, their bridges, all their different infrastructure are fair game. And with President Trump saying this on Truth Social, with a little more time, we can easily open the Hormoo Straight. take the oil and make a fortune. It would be a gusher for the world.

So the focus right now preparing the battlefield, striking the infrastructure. The marine expeditionary unit is in the area and now the USS Ford is trucking back or sailing back towards the area as well after getting some repairs done. So now even more naval air power being sent into the region and the carrier strike group.

Having more of those is just going to increase the combat capability to open the Straits of Hormuz. And the strikes on the B1 bridge are hitting Iran where it hurts, hitting the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, right where their money flow is happening. But let’s pop to X for some latest breaking information on the situation.

So here we are on X, everybody. Here’s what we’re seeing. One crew member from the F-15E shot down over Iran has been rescued by American forces and is receiving medical care per officials cited by NBC router, CBS, New York Times, and others. The search continues for the second crew member. No confirmed reports of any detainment in Iran so far.

And here’s the different images that we’re seeing. So, they originally compared this to an F-35 tail. propaganda machine initially said it was an F-35, but the wreckage here you can see is clearly an F15E from the 494th squadron out of Lake and Heath. The shooting down of the US F-15E fighter jet over Iran today. Fates of the pilot still unknown.

And this is a shot of that jet out of Lake and Heath as well. You can see the red tails here. One US crew member from the downed F-15 EJ jet have been rescued as per official sources are telling us. So, Godspeed to the pilot or Wizo that’s still out there. I hope they’re safe and I hope they are rescued very soon.

There’s a view of the F-15 E Strike Eagle and then bringing you guys in to actually the location on where this is taking place here. But it’s a big province. It stretches kind of the center mainland portion of Iran itself. And then on this map, you can see a lot of the different strikes that have taken place.

Lots of strikes over the last 24 hours. And then F-15E going down. Obviously tragic, terrible. We got to find that remaining crew member, but this is potentially what that F-15E was up to. This isn’t confirmed yet, but lots of new strikes happening on the infrastructure in Tran. Looking at this B1 bridge and seeing it coming down.

This could have been the target by the F-15E or B1’s, B-52s, but now striking down the actual infrastructure in Tran that is supplying the war machine, supplying the drones and the ballistic missiles. That seems to be a main focus and an F-15 mission could definitely have been to drop this bridge as well. Here’s more information coming in.

This is from Military Times saying, “US forces rescued downed F-15 crew member in Iran and the search for the second continues.” One of two US F-15 East Estrike Eagle crew members shot down by enemy fire in Iran has been rescued. Israeli media first reported that US officials confirmed the reports in statements to CBS News and to Axio.

So the search for the second crew member is ongoing and that’s why we see that C130 out there that Seesar combat search and rescue HC130J is also seen refueling HH60G pave hawks over Iran doing everything they can to locate that crew member. White House press secretary Caroline Levit on Friday today she told the military times the president has been briefed on the downed US F-15E fighter jet.

The Pentagon and US Central Command did not immediately respond for requests to comment. And then Iranian state media, they shared those images of the F-35 and the F-15E debris as well as the crash site. And then Axios is reporting that as well. The latest Iran is hunting for the crew and has asked civilians in the area to join the search, offering a reward if they’re found.

Israel is helping the US with intelligence in order to locate the other crew member. The officials said it sounds like the two crew members ejected from the F-15E after being struck by Iranian fire. US special forces located one of the crew members and rescued him alive on Iranian territory.

And Israeli officials said Israel canled planned strikes in Iran so as not to hamper the search and rescue efforts. And then I wanted to cover this. This was very interesting. This is Joe Rogan and Theo Vaughn commenting on the war. So let’s have a listen to that real quick. >> Seems so insane based on what he ran on. I mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed, right? He ran on no more wars and these stupid senseless wars and then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it.

>> So, I understand what Joe is saying. We can’t even really define why we did it. And I think there hasn’t been a lot of information to keep the civilian population informed. But for decades, the US military has been preparing for this because of Iran’s thousands of ballistic missiles, thousands of drones, and a nuclear weapon that is held by a radical cleric. So, it’s different.

The mentality in Iran of the Ayatollah class, the Mulla class is much different than the US. They are a religious doctrine that governs the country and they want to eradicate Israel and the US. That’s their number one goal. So them having a nuclear weapon. The whole reason why we’ve heard for decades that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon is because we know that they will use it, that’s their goal is to eradicate the US and eradicate Israel.

So I know it’s hard sometimes when there’s maybe not an direct attack on the US that we can look at and say, “Look, they directly attacked us.” But I understand the frustration. But to me, when I look at it, it looks like Iran was shielding their ability to have a nuclear weapon that then likely at some point the Ayatollah using religious doctrine would direct it to be used against Israel and then Israel is going to use them against Iran.

And now we’ve got a nuclear war on our hands. And not to mention Iran controlling the Straits of Hormuz, they’re teamed up with Russia and China. So if China wants to take Taiwan, they have to have that flow of oil through the Straits of Hormuz. And if Iran owns it, they can give China as much oil as they want to conduct that war. But if the US has influence there, the other Gulf partners have more of a say on what happens in the Straits of Hormuz, then China has to think twice about a war and taking Taiwan.

So Iran is claiming it was a Sciad 4B missile fired from the Bavar 373 system. That’s a twostage solid fuel beast. It’s no joke on paper, but it boasts a 400 km range is what they’re saying. probably somewhere around a 100 miles does make sense. And it’s very fast. They’re saying it can go Mach 5. It uses an active radar seeker in the terminal phase for precision homing against high-speed jets.

And it’s built to shoot down fourth generation jets. It’s paired with inertial midcourse guidance and data link updates. Iran claims the whole setup is highly mobile, and that is likely. It’s likely a mobile system that can be loaded onto heavy trucks. Quick to reload is what they say, resistant to electronic warfare.

It’s kind of their homegrown answer to Russia’s S400. And it’s been said that Russia and China are helping to update and adapt the air defenses in Iran. And as these fighters fly over, some of these radars that are still operating are gathering information at all times. And unfortunately, in this case, they got that lucky shot off, which looks to have taken down that strike eagle.

But the S400 is a very capable Russian system. and the Bavar 373. That’s the system that Iran is trying to use to be as capable as that Russian S400 system. But in reality, Tron is bragging about shooting down this F-15E while they are still getting absolutely crushed militarily. And one of the crew members is safe already confirmed.

And now the search continues for the second with heavy air cover up overhead. But the F-15E Strike Eagle carries a massive load of weaponry, a massive load of fuel, huge weapons load for air-to-air and airto ground missions. It’s fast, it’s maneuverable, and it’s built to penetrate heavily defended airspace. Look at this image right here.

This is, look at this video right here. This was from Iraq. This is an F-15E targeting a Shawhead drone. It’s trying to come in slow behind the drone. Likely going to fly past it because the drone is just going so slow. But again, the F-15E can turn back around and then take this thing down.

But remember, the F-15E, it’s not stealthy. It’s not like the F-35 or the F-22. So, some of these different systems, the more advanced ones in Iran, can get lucky shots off on aircraft like this. So, here’s how Iran likely did it. They likely used the Bavar 373, their upgraded radar with detection that goes out to a couple hundred miles.

They could have picked up the F-15E last second by keeping the radar off and then turning it on once they could hear the actual jet noise itself. And the F-15E operating at medium altitude or if it had to use afterurners that could have highlighted it as well. And then the SciOD 4B’s two-stage design accelerated towards the aircraft itself, giving the pilot very little reaction time because they’re not turning the radars on until that F-15E is directly over top of that radar system.

So the possible factors here, lucky shot during a high threat environment, saturation of defenses, multiple launches, even man pads in the area, maybe launching as well to distract the F-15E crew. Temporary degradation of some sort of jamming could have been a part of this. But the F-15E is very good at fighting against that jamming.

But the F-15E’s size and its radar signature do make it a bigger target than the stealth platforms that are operating in the area. And in contested mountains in this section of Tran, kind of central parts of Tron, the terrain could have masked the launcher until it was just too late and the F-15E was basically directly over top of where this missile was launching from.

So the IRGC is going to use this as a propaganda victory. Obviously, again, this single hit doesn’t change at all who fully controls the skies over Iran. But there are still threats, so you have to honor the threat. And we’ve talked about that before on the channel. But overall, 12,300 targets have been struck with precision, including that B1 bridge.

And now focusing on striking more of the infrastructure. But let’s talk about the actual operation itself, and we’re seeing that take place right now. That is a SAR, search and rescue operation involving HH60G pave hawks and HC130 tankers while the search continues for that second crew member. But that brings us to the 4D chess strategic analysis section.

So bigger picture, Iran is getting a temporary propaganda boost from shooting down an F-15E Strike Eagle. The IRGC is flooding state media with the wreckage photos and victory speeches, trying to rally domestic support to show the population that they’re in control and they’re in charge. That’s the whole goal. The regime wants to assure their own population that they’re actually winning.

And another big victory here for the US is getting one of those air crew members out of the country already. So that is success and hopefully we’re 100% and we can get that second air crew member out of there as well. But the whole goal here for the US is absorb this headline, you know, take a little bit of a hit here and then continuously deliver the real damage to the infrastructure in Iran and maintain overwhelming momentum without getting dragged into the propaganda back and forth.

So, the IRGC will keep issuing their dramatic statements about the F-15E being taken down. However, many more F-15ES are continuously taking it to the heart of the IRGC at this point. But let’s break down and tip our hat to the SAR forces, the search and rescue forces. When I was flying in combat, just knowing that these forces were there gave me an edge of confidence.

So, when the F-15E went down, the combat search and rescue machine kicked into full high gear immediately. HH60G pave hawks loaded with US Air Force par rescue flew in refueled mid-m mission by HC-130 combat king tankers to extend their range deep into Iranian territory. Those PJs are the elite of the elite combat medics, parachutists, divers, and mountain experts trained to insert themselves into hostile environments, stabilize injured air crew, extract them under fire.

One of the crew members being located, they’ll treat the injuries if needed and then get them out of there as fast as possible aboard one of their pave hawk helicopters. Already safe for the first crew member and now searching for the second and that continues right now. Dedicated assets providing cover and coordination across those rugged mountain passes near the crash sites.

Speed, night ops, overwhelming firepower, and the unmatched skill of the PJs get US forces back. That’s what they do. Even though the IRGC is screaming that they scored a win here, the Par rescue getting that first crew member out is a huge win. And now they’re doing everything they can to get the second one out.

So, what do you think happens next? Let me know in the comments below. Would love to hear your thoughts. Do you think over the next week or so we see even more strikes on the energy infrastructure in Iran? Let me know in the comments below. And then go ahead and join the Max Ready Room. It’s live streams where I do priority replies to member comments.

I’ll be doing a live stream today on this exact incident. So, click the link in the description, join the Max Ready room, and then watch this next video that pops up right here. This is Ryan, also known as Max After Burner, signing