F-15E pilot downed over Iran had been shot down a month prior

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F-15E pilot downed over Iran had been shot down a month prior<br>F-15E weapon systems officer suffered a parachute “malfunction” when he punched out

Sean D. Naylor<br>Jun 02, 2026<br>∙ Paid

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A screenshot taken from video circulating on social media of one of the three F-15E Strike Eagles shot down by a Kuwaiti F/A-18 March 1.<br>The pilot of the F-15E Strike Eagle shot down April 3 over Iran was also the pilot of one of the three F-15Es shot down by a Kuwaiti F/A-18 in a friendly fire incident less than five weeks previously, making him “almost certainly” the first Air Force fixed-wing pilot to be shot down twice in the same conflict since the Vietnam war, according to current and former Air Force officials.<br>The other airman shot down in the April 3 incident, the F-15E’s weapon systems officer, suffered injuries after his parachute failed to properly open when the pair ejected following an Iranian missile strike, according to a former senior Air Force official who was briefed on the episode.

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