The F-15E "Strike Eagle"

By Simplicius - March 3, 2026

The Iran conflict is escalating, with the Trump administration desperate to keep a straight face on things as American casualties and losses begin mounting.

Today’s major shock came when not one, not two, but an unprecedented three American F-15E fighter jets were mysteriously shot down over Kuwait. Note the official US military report admits that Iranian aircraft had been engaging them at a time when “air superiority” was allegedly long established:

But not everyone is convinced these were “friendly fire” incidents. Iran announced it had downed the craft, which is at least plausible given that Kuwait is positioned well within reach of long-range S-300s.

There are even logical speculations that Iran had received the latest Geran drone tech from Russia which attaches air-to-air missiles onto the Gerans and Shaheds, allowing them to shoot down pursuing craft as Russia has now verifiably demonstrated against a number of Ukrainian aerial assets. It’s impossible to know for sure, but friendly fire on three aircraft in a row strains credulity.

That said, if friendly fire was the case we can point to how the West mocked and ridiculed Russia for its supposed lack of IFF (Identify Friend Foe) systems, when Russian ADs occasionally shot down their own assets in highly contested air spaces. But even Russia has never managed to humiliate itself with three lead aircraft shoot-downs in the same hour, let alone the same day. It’s clear that once again we find everything the West mocked Russia for over the past few years the West itself finds difficult in time of a real shooting war.

Recall how superior US’s IFF systems were said to be, now suddenly it quickly turns to “Well, we always knew IFF wasn’t reliable…”

Next came the news that . . .

[SNIP]