After a US F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing at a Middle East air base last week during the escalating US-Israel war against Iran, two sources familiar with the matter told US media that the plane had been attacked by Iran while returning from a combat mission, a claim also reported by Iranian state media.
If true, this would be the first time during the war that Iran has attacked an F-35, the cornerstone of Washington’s aerial firepower.
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Here’s what we know about the incident and why it matters:
What do we know about the incident?
After the F-35 stealth fighter jet made its emergency landing on Thursday, Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM), said it had landed safely and the pilot was in stable condition.
“This incident is under investigation,” Hawkins added without specifying why or where the plane had landed.
The same day, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a statement saying it had attacked a US airliner.
According to a Sunday report by Air & Space Forces magazine, a publication that covers news on U.S. air defense and national security issues, the pilot suffered shrapnel wounds. The report, citing anonymous sources with knowledge of the incident, said the plane was hit by ground fire.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency published military images that it said showed Tehran’s air defense systems attacking a US F-35 stealth fighter.
What is an F-35 and what is special about it?
The F-35 refers to a family of stealth fighters manufactured by the American aerospace company Lockheed Martin. Its official website presents the F-35 Lightning II – to give the plane its full name – as “the most advanced fighter jet in the world.”
Much of the plane’s reputation for air superiority comes from its combination of stealth technology, advanced sensors and high-speed computing.
The plane is designed to be less detectable and able to gather more information about its surroundings than previous generations of fighter jets, transmitting data from a 360-degree camera and other sensors directly to the pilot.
“The key to the F-35 is the radar suites,” John Phillips, a British security and risk advisor and former chief military instructor, told Al Jazeera. Radar arrays are a combination of hardware and software that can detect and analyze specific threats and facilitate a response to those threats.
“There is no standard set of radars and they vary by country,” Phillips explained. “It is rumored that certain countries were only given certain radars [by the manufacturer]. “I think this is to counter attempts by foreign adversaries like China or Russia to reverse engineer the technology.”
Several countries are partners with the United States in F-35 manufacturing, including Australia, Canada, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. They either make certain components of fighter jets or have facilities where they assemble aircraft that will be used by their own governments.
Among the 20 countries that have also purchased these aircraft are Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia and Israel..
There are three types of Lightning II F-35s, all of which have internally mounted weapons to increase their stealth design.
The F-35A is the most common model and is most widely owned by other countries. It can take off and land on a regular runway, like those used by commercial airplanes.
The F-35B is used by Italy, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. It is capable of landing vertically like a helicopter and taking off from a very short runway, making it a good option for operating from short runways, in mountainous terrain, from beaches or from small islands.
The F-35C is a supersonic aircraft, meaning it can travel faster than sound waves. The US Navy has used this model for long-range stealth operations. So far, only the US Navy has this model. The US Marine Corps is also acquiring F-35C aircraft to operate alongside its own F-35Bs, according to Lockheed Martin. Unlike the F-35B, the F-35C requires a longer runway.
It is not known which of these three aircraft models Iran claims to have shot down last week.
Why would it be such a big deal if Iran had shot one down?
US officials have not yet confirmed that an F-35 fighter jet was hit by Iranian fire last week. On Thursday, US President Donald Trump told reporters: “We fly wherever we want. Nobody even shoots at us.”
While F-35 stealth fighters have been deployed in combat operations since 2018, there have been no confirmed cases of any being hit by enemy fire.
Defense experts said, therefore, that if Iran’s claims that it has successfully attacked an F-35 aircraft are true, this will demonstrate that an F-35 is not invulnerable in war.
“This would be significant, not because it means that stealth is becoming obsolete, but because it would show that not even an F-35 is invulnerable in a dense and adaptable air defense environment,” Ali Vaez, director of the International Crisis Group’s Iran Project, told Al Jazeera.
“At this time, there is no credible public evidence that a basic surface-to-air missile system has accomplished this alone,” he added.
What American planes have been shot down during the war with Iran?
Since the US-Israel strikes against Iran began on February 28, the US has reportedly lost 12 MQ-9 Reaper drones. These drones are piloted remotely and are primarily used to gather intelligence about an area, as well as to “conduct strikes, coordination, and reconnaissance against high-value, fleeting, and time-sensitive targets,” according to information from the United States Air Force.
Separately, U.S. officials said five KC-135 refueling aircraft were damaged during an Iranian missile attack on a base in Saudi Arabia on March 14, although the reports have not been independently verified.
On March 1, three US F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets were shot down in a friendly fire incident involving a Kuwaiti F/A-18. All six crew members ejected safely and were recovered.
On Sunday, Iran said it had intercepted an F-15 fighter jet violating Iranian airspace over its southern coast near the island of Hormuz. But the United States has denied this claim. CENTCOM wrote in X: “FALSE: Rumors claim that the Iranian regime recently shot down a US F-15 over Iran.
“TRUTH: U.S. forces have flown more than 8,000 sorties during Operation Epic Fury. No U.S. warplanes have been shot down by Iran.”
At least 13 U.S. service members have been killed during combat operations against Iran and approximately 200 others have been wounded.
In Iran, at least 1,444 people have been killed and 18,551 injured since the start of the conflict, according to local health authorities.
