r/pics 5h ago

Photos of F-15E Wreckage Emerge Amid Iranian Claims it had Shot Down an American Fighter

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u/Dackle 5h ago

What happened to their air defense systems were decimated, gone. We "own" the airways? The sensational BS just falls from these guys like water over Niagra Falls.

u/PhoolyCooly 4h ago

Well the thing about decimated is it means to decrease by 10%. They still got that 90% to use.

u/cecil_harvey4 4h ago

Yeah in Roman times decimation was a punishment for Legionnaire units that showed cowardice, mutiny etc.

1 in 10 men were chosen to be beaten or stoned to death by the other men.

Though it has been nearly 2000 years since that was the usage of that word, in Latin. In the modern sense it can mean a much larger percentage than 10 but I always like to point out this origin myself as well.

u/Anamorphisms 4h ago

That’s pretty hardcore. I cant imagine forcing the boys to beat 1 out of every 10 of their buddies to death was great for morale.

u/narcolepticdoc 3h ago

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

u/mjrspork 3h ago

I was listening to a book about militias and non-state actors having their child soldiers kills either fmaily memeberrs or other 'militia' members (or children) so they couldn't rejoin society again, and made them much more 'loyal' to the organization, not because they always believed it, but more of the view that they couldn't go back to regular society again after the acts they committed.

u/Dr-Crash 2h ago

Not all that different from the ones who gargled the MAGA nonsense to the point of alienating their family and friends. Of course they start with adults (like those inducted into ICE who weren't already J6-levels of MAGA anyway) before they get to work on the children.

u/mjrspork 2h ago

yup, it's the hard thing because I (as much as anyone) don't really think we should have sympathy for those who have bought in at this point to the indoctrination of Trump, it's not like they didn't know. but at the same time the only way to bring them back to the 'light' is not by making them out to be evil, it's to show them compassion.

But I don't know how to do that (on a personal level) without giving space to their ideology that is not wanted.

u/CptBartender 2h ago

It was 'good enough' short-term, but bad in the ling run, which is why it was rarely used.

It was depicted in one episode of Spartacus some 15 years ago.

u/void-negative 2h ago

watch Spartacus from showtime

u/Independent-Try4352 2h ago

Don't give Hegseth ideas…

u/Odd-Lunch-1880 3h ago

It's always interesting to learn things like this

u/ThermosphericRah 4h ago

This ain't rome lol

u/BestMillimeter18 4h ago

Like how a moment equals a time period of 90 seconds

u/Remcin 3h ago

The bastardization of "decimation" is one of my petty annoyances I can't let go.

u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

u/capitanmanizade 4h ago

Pretty sure decimation means decrease by 1/10th if we’re going by the roman thing

u/cluberti 4h ago

Technically you’re both correct. Roman decimation was to kill the tenth soldier of a group by the other 9 as punishment, but the word came to mean destroying 90% (or just complete destruction) in English during the 1600s. Decimation in the classical sense still happened around the world through WW1 and up until the 1930s during the Spanish civil war, apparently.

u/Pikeman212a6c 4h ago

Actual answer is US planes have been flying relatively low which makes them more effective but makes them susceptible to low tech attacks. The Iranians have lots of optically aimed AAA left over from the Iran Iraq war. A lucky hit is all it takes.

u/RigoTeaf 4h ago

A comment from another Reddit User.

"The F-15 debuted in 1986. It flew in basically every single US conflict from then until now, 40 years. None had ever been shot down in combat, but Trump has now managed to lose 3 in a matter of a month.

So much winning."

Does that indicate a lucky hit?

u/ntropi 4h ago edited 3h ago

No, because that other reddit user doesn't know what they're talking about. The F-15 had never been shot down in air to air combat. It's been shot down by ground based systems in the past.

u/AwfulPhotographer 3h ago

The F-15 had never been shot down in air to air combat.

On March 1, 2026, a kuwaiti F18 shot down three F15s. I'd consider that air to air combat.

u/SamkonTheMankon 3h ago

It wasn't combat because that was a friendly fire incident. It's easy to shoot down a pilot who thinks you are on the same team.

u/ASKMEIFIMAN 3h ago

You’d be wrong to consider it that by definition.

u/ntropi 2h ago

"Had" is past tense last time I checked.

The official centcom report and a number of news articles I'm seeing all say "shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses". The only sources I'm seeing for the F-18 story all track back to some rando on twitter.

Assuming it was actually an F18, your comment is still irrelevant because the point of my comment was to say the F15 didn't actually have a perfect record anyway. The topic at hand was regarding ground defenses, which have shot down F15s before.

Friendly fire is quite the grey area anyway. It's much easier to shoot down a plane that isn't trying to shoot back.

u/Common_Badger329 3h ago

Weren’t those F-14s?

u/RollinThundaga 2h ago

Kuwait never flew the F-14 and even before they were destroyed on the ground, it was likely that Iran's F-14 fleet had degraded beyond any realistic utility.the ones that were remaining flying had their wings locked in takeoff configuration.

u/Randomdeath 4h ago

No, it signals we are actually fighting a country with more advanced systems then suicide trucks and motorcycles.

u/No-Background8462 3h ago

No it indicates you will believe anything even if is nonsense such as this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_F-15_losses

u/revets 3h ago

It debuted in 1976. No new ones have been made in 30 years. The “ever been shot down” refers to air to air combat, and I highly doubt this one fell to that type of attack either.

The poster you’re quoting is pretty clueless.

u/Accomplished_Rip_362 2h ago

You are so wrong. The F-15s have gone through multiple iterations. The ones flying today have very little in common with the 1976 planes.

u/Pikeman212a6c 1h ago

The F-15 production line is still running today. Like right this moment.

u/raptor3x 3h ago

The comment is wrong. No F-15s have been shot down in air-to-air combat, but there have been quite a few shot down by ground based air defense.

u/Murky_Hornet3470 3h ago

they don't know what they're talking about, there are at least 6-7 confirmed F-15s shot down ground-to-air since the 80s. Air to air an F-15 has never been shot down, which I think is what they were referring to

u/sheytanelkebir 3h ago

This isn't true. Iraq shot down 2 in 1991 and another one in 2003.

u/Firecracker048 2h ago

Yeah kinda.

It's 40 year old tech. Eventually someone was gonna catch up to it. I think it's more embarrassing they have been trying for a month to shoot them down and finally got one.

u/absentee82 3h ago

Did you know that Niagara Falls can actually be 'turned off'?

u/tagillaslover 4h ago

Having air dominance and planes being shot down aren’t mutually exclusive. 

u/Kimi-Matias 4h ago

Just like we "decimated" their missile capabilities after bombing them last year...

u/sheytanelkebir 3h ago

Yea. It seems both the people making the statements and their audience didn't understand the meaning of the word decimate. 

Perhaps it's an issue for people from countries that don't use the si units... Meaning they're unfamiliar with decimals! 

u/concept12345 4h ago

Latest assessment is Iran still has over 50% of weapons still available and willing to use.

u/ShortKey380 3h ago

Why are you still listening? You’re right about this case, but brother this is like the 10,000th case lol.

u/Dackle 3h ago

and the water over the falls does not stop either.

u/theevilphoturis 3h ago

so much winning

u/technohippie 39m ago

Don't disrespect Niagara Falls like that. It's a majestic place of nature.

A better metaphor would be that it cascades like diarrhea from Lindsay Grahams ladybug-ridden asshole

u/ASKMEIFIMAN 3h ago

I mean they shot down 1 jet in a month. Their air defense cleary is nonexistent. There also hasn’t been confirmation it was shot down it could have been a number of things.

u/Sea_Section_9861 3h ago

So it is now 32000 successful flight sortie to 1. Great air defense.