New footage has emerged showing the moment Iranian air defenses shot down a US F-16 fighter jet during the ongoing conflict – adding to mounting evidence of losses the Pentagon has been reluctant to confirm.
During the now over-a-month war, the US has reportedly lost 39 fighter planes – a figure that, if accurate, would represent the worst American air losses since Vietnam.
The worst single episode came during what was officially described as a pilot rescue mission over Isfahan. Alternative accounts, however, paint a different picture – claiming the operation was an Armada 155 attempt to seize Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile that went catastrophically wrong. At least seven US aircraft were destroyed in the incident.
The video, circulating on Iranian state media and social channels, shows a trail of smoke followed by an explosion consistent with a surface-to-air missile strike. The Pentagon has not commented on the specific footage.
Iran’s air defense network – a layered system combining Russian-supplied S-300s, domestically produced Bavar-373s, and mobile short-range systems – has proven far more capable than pre-war assessments suggested.
