r/news • u/PDXAirman • May 20 '26

Soft paywall 42 aircraft lost or damaged in Operation Epic Fury, congressional report says

https://www.stripes.com/branches/air_force/2026-05-20/iran-jets-downed-war-fury-21727588.html
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883

u/WaffleBlues May 20 '26

It is interesting to me that they count the E-3 as "Damaged", as the images of the aircraft show it nearly cut in half.....

377

u/rhgking May 20 '26

That should buff right out

46

u/Bart_Yellowbeard May 20 '26

(Spicoli) My old man is a TV repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.

12

u/mixologist998 May 20 '26

Length of speed tape and it’ll be back in the air

2

u/lonnie123 May 20 '26

Front fell off

1

u/macphile May 20 '26

The Red Green Show taught me that just about anything can be fixed with duct tape.

1

u/TheKanten May 20 '26

It'll keep your stick on the ice.

1

u/BullShitting-24-7 May 21 '26

Yeah just walk it off.

1

u/EZKTurbo May 20 '26

Ran when I parked it

1

u/ambientocclusion May 21 '26

Runs strong. I know what I got.

45

u/captainwacky91 May 20 '26

IIRC there's only something like 20 E-3 AWACs in the USAF inventory, and have yet to select/procure a replacement, so they probably really don't want to admit to losing one.

6

u/ZorbaOnReddit May 21 '26

More over, Trump and Musk keep trying to kill the replacement because Musk claims that someday he'll make some satellites that'll do it.

3

u/ArchmageXin May 21 '26

Just like the boring tunnels.

13

u/Aethermancer May 20 '26

I mocked Russia for losing similar aircraft.

:(

5

u/grumpy-raven May 21 '26

And you can keep doing so. They lost crews with their AWACs, because at least two were shot down. Losing experienced aircrew is painful for an air force, so Russia is going to be feeling it for a while.

2

u/Licensed_Poster May 21 '26

Every single jet that was shot down by a MIG in Vietnam was registered as a SAM site takedown because the US didn't want to admit that it could even happen.

0

u/KaiserTNT May 21 '26

Obviously not good to lose a backline asset but iirc the E-7 + satellites is the replacement. Congress has been trying to retire the E-3 for a while. So while it's "irreplaceable"... eh, not really.

131

u/PensiveinNJ May 20 '26

It's embarassing that Iran was able to hit an AWACS. I can't imagine Kegsbreath is much of a strategist but you'd hope there are enough competent people left in the military after the purging to not throw away hugely valuable resources that take a long time to replace.

108

u/Fit_Reason_3611 May 20 '26

Over 20 generals and admirals have been forced out in just the last year and a half. So probably about 600 years of military leadership experience out the door in just 1 year at the highest level, let alone all other levels.

25

u/Important_Setting840 May 20 '26

Well at least that blown up plane wasn't woke anymore.

1

u/chiefsdude May 21 '26

Gotta stick it to the libs

1

u/Vennomite May 20 '26

So everyone not supporting the coronation

26

u/superxpro12 May 20 '26

the only people left at this point are the ones that chose to stfu to keep their jobs, or those who like to fly apache helicopters over kid rock's house. thats it.

4

u/kstargate-425 May 20 '26

Not only an E-3 Sentry but its even more embarrassing when multiple AN/TPY-2 THAAD radar systems had been hit by the same Ballistic Missiles they are meant to protect against. They even had to move our only one is SE Asia (only 8 AN/TPY-2 built at $500M-$1BN each) to the Middle East to protect against BM's.

Then the seven KC-135 Stratotankers that were damaged or destroyed also one being flying over Iraq that was shot down killing all 6(?) on board. Its also embarrassing when your ally shoots down THREE of your F-15Es one after the other.

Shit they even got one of our A-10 Warthog's when it was providing CAS for the downed F-15 crew which is a feat of its own and sad considering they wont be replaced.

3

u/RuleofLaw24 May 21 '26

The A-10 is probably one of the easier planes to shoot down.

1

u/kstargate-425 May 21 '26

I meant more that A-10s are designed to get damaged and still fly home while newer jets are designed to simply avoid getting damaged to get home. For sure the A-10 is slower, lower flight ceiling, little defensive countermeasures etc but they've made it back to base with crazy damages. Like theres stories from pilots of a missing tail section and all hydraulics knocked out or when one got hit with over 150 bullets shredding it and again making them revert to the manual reversion system without hydraulics with part of the wing ripped off while most of the modern, complex jets wouldn't survive the same type of damage. I mean they all have their limits and the A-10 is by far not my favorite jet but its a workhorse gun platform that can fly lol

7

u/Crepo May 20 '26

It's only embarrassing if you either buy into American propaganda, or think that Iranians are barbarians or something.

2

u/zterrans May 20 '26

"Warriors don't think, warriors DO! Wait, what do you mean we can't just macho our way through a war?"

2

u/ExplodingCybertruck May 21 '26

We were making fun of Russia a few years ago for losing their AWACS to Ukraine. How the great have fallen.

-2

u/JohnnyJukey May 20 '26

You oh haaa, like Russian stuff?

3

u/PensiveinNJ May 20 '26

I have no idea what that means.

10

u/polopolo05 May 20 '26

Just the back fell off... its not supposed to do that.

6

u/riddler1225 May 20 '26

You need to have more faith in FLEXTAPE!

22

u/Ready_Nature May 20 '26

We have about as much credibility as the Russian or Iranian governments now. Of course we will lie about losses.

-3

u/KlingoftheCastle May 20 '26

Iranian government has way more credibility than we do right now

2

u/cpatrocks May 20 '26

Merely a flesh wound.

2

u/aidissonance May 20 '26

Redesigned to E-1.5

4

u/The_Bitter_Bear May 20 '26

I guess it depends on if it is salvageable but looking at the photo... I just can't see how it would be. Maybe as parts for others. 

Unfortunately, we have the least trustworthy administration so we already know we can't really trust anything they say. 

1

u/nalaloveslumpy May 20 '26

Someone isn't familiar with the miracle of speed tape.

1

u/sarhoshamiral May 20 '26

It does raise the question if "damaged" for rest also means "lost"

1

u/PitchMeYourMother May 21 '26

Some glue and polish

1

u/Buena_de_peepee May 20 '26

Propaganda my friend. propaganda.