🚨🇺🇸🇮🇷 Two U.S. aircraft were downed in Iran yesterday. One airman is still missing. Here's what probably happened: The F-15E wasn't on a routine patrol. It was on a deep penetration strike into southwestern Iran. Kohgiluyeh province, mountainous, layered defenses, well inside hostile territory. High-value target. High risk. Iran's air defenses (likely Bavar-373, repositioned mobile SAMs, or a surviving S-300 battery) finally scored one. Both crew ejected successfully. That's where things got complicated. They probably drifted apart. One landed somewhere accessible, picked up within hours by Pave Hawks under fire. The other might have come down in harder terrain: valleys, vegetation, or too close to IRGC-patrolled ground. Still missing. Then it escalated. An A-10 scrambled to cover the rescue; low, slow, doing what Warthogs do. IRGC forces and militias rushed the area. The A-10 took fire (MANPADS, AAA, possibly both) nursed itself to friendly airspace near the Gulf, and the pilot ejected safely. One rescue mission, one additional aircraft hit. The CSAR itself became a battle. The missing airman is almost certainly evading right now. SERE training, rough terrain, intermittent beacon. Iran has already mobilized locals with bounties. IRGC has sealed the area. U.S. spec ops are almost certainly on the ground covertly. Worst case: he's been captured, and Iran gets the propaganda win of the war. People say this was air supremacy failing. It was actually one good Iranian shot triggering a cascading ground game that the U.S. is now racing to control. Source: NBC News, CBS News, Reuters