US F-35 fighter makes emergency landing, suspected of being hit by Iranian fire

News agency CNN Today, citing two sources familiar with the matter, a US F-35 stealth fighter had to make an emergency landing at an air base in the Middle East after being “hit by suspected Iranian fire”.

Colonel Tim Hawkins, spokesman for Central Command (CENTCOM), later confirmed that an F-35 had to make an emergency landing while performing a combat mission over Iran. “The plane landed safely and the pilot is in stable condition. The incident is being investigated,” he said.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) later announced that it had “attacked and damaged a US F-35”.

The F-35 version is unknown, each costs 82-135 million USD depending on the variant and the military branch operating this aircraft. If confirmed, this will be the first time Iran has hit a US manned aircraft since the conflict broke out on February 28.

The incident occurred while senior US officials continued to affirm that the campaign against Iran was succeeding. Defense Minister Pete Hegseth announced on March 19 that the US had a clear advantage and that Iran’s air defense network had been seriously disabled, although he admitted that Tehran “still has certain capabilities”.

Commentator Tyler Rogoway of the military website War Zone last week warned that US and Israeli forces still face risks when conducting missions deep inside Iranian territory.

“This is especially true when the enemy possesses mobile air defense complexes, capable of appearing almost anywhere and giving the flight crew very little time to react. These systems can be very hidden and will continue to be present on the battlefield long after the fixed air defense positions are completely destroyed,” Rogoway said.

The US and Israel have not lost manned fighter jets over Iran, but Iranian air defense units have shot down at least 11 US MQ-9 Reaper armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and an unknown number of Hermes 900 aircraft, one of the most modern types of UAVs in Israeli service.