The military myth of the United States is once again shattered.

On the 19th, CNN cited sources saying that a U.S. F-35 "Lightning" fighter jet was suspected to have been hit while carrying out a mission in Iranian airspace and made an emergency landing at a U.S. military base in the Middle East.

Not long after, the U.S. Central Command confirmed the media report, but did not admit that the aircraft had made an emergency landing due to being hit by Iran's air defense fire, and insisted that the aircraft landed safely and the pilot was in stable condition; meanwhile, Iran also released a video showing its air defense system locking onto and hitting a U.S. aircraft.

The moment the F-35 was hit by an Iranian missile

If this video is indeed genuine, from the content shown, the U.S. aircraft did not make any countermeasures during the entire process of being locked onto until it was attacked, nor did it perform any evasive maneuvers, nor did it show any signs of detecting incoming missiles.

Based on the actual strike effect and the U.S. military's refusal to admit that the aircraft was shot down, it is likely that Iran did not use traditional large-scale long-range air defense missiles, but rather some kind of short-range weapon - according to Iran's statement, this was a result achieved by a drone-based air defense system.

But regardless, since the aircraft did not crash immediately, it means that the warhead of this missile was not very large - yet even with limited explosives, the damage caused to the U.S. aircraft after being hit was severe enough to require an emergency landing, which does not mean it can be easily repaired, and the possibility of this aircraft returning to the battlefield is probably very slim.

Probably this one? The Iranian "Majid" mobile air defense system

As for why the U.S. aircraft never sensed itself being locked onto or detected the approaching missile, the most likely reason is that Iran used some kind of passive electro-optical/infrared sensor system. This system emits no radar waves at all, only passively receiving the thermal signals of the target for detection - even stealth aircraft cannot completely hide their thermal signals.

Because there was no radar radiation during the lock-on process, the U.S. aircraft's radar warning receiver could not detect any signal, so the pilot had no time to release chaff or evade urgently, everything happened silently.

Iran's approach is not new. In 2018, the Houthi rebels successfully ambushed a Saudi fighter jet (F-15S) using similar "handmade" optical sensors and Russian-made air defense missiles.

Probably the U.S. pilot was careless, thinking he would not be targeted by Iranian air defense missiles

On the other hand, how exactly Iran discovered this U.S. aircraft remains uncertain, with various possibilities existing, such as, during the past nearly 20 days of airstrikes, due to the destruction of Iran's fixed air defense network, it failed to organize a large-scale effective counterattack, leading the U.S. aircraft to develop some path dependence or tactical slackness, executing airstrikes along relatively fixed routes, which were then studied by Iranian air defense units who set up an ambush.

Another possibility is that this U.S. aircraft may simply have been unlucky, crashing into the strike zone of an Iranian mobile air defense unit.

Israeli F-15I's dropped weapon pylon

In fact, this is not the first time Iran has hit or shot down U.S. and Israeli aircraft. Leaving aside the three so-called "friendly fire" incidents in Kuwait, since late February when the U.S. and Israel launched large-scale airstrikes, Iran has shot down at least 10 U.S. "Reaper" drones so far, and in one air defense operation, it hit an Israeli "Eagle" fighter jet (F-15I), forcing it to discard its weapon pylons and flee hastily.

These achievements clearly show that despite the heavy airstrikes, Iran's air defense system, especially its mobile, dispersed, and asymmetric air defense capabilities, is far from being "completely destroyed" as Trump boasted.

As early as the beginning of the war, the U.S. "War Zone" website had warned that even if the U.S.-Israel alliance could easily destroy most of Iran's air force aircraft and large air defense systems, the airspace over Iran was not absolutely safe for U.S.-Israeli aircraft, as it still retained a considerable number of mobile air defense weapons, which are very easy to hide, and once they appear on the battlefield, U.S.-Israeli crews have almost no time for early warning and response.



Original: toutiao.com/article/7619271859846005263/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.