Wednesday March 4, 2026
www.thenewsdesk.ng
By Idorenyin UMOREN
Private Investigator and Security Evaluator
With agency reports
A Kuwaiti jet fighter was the cause of the accidental shootdown of three American F-15s on Monday, March 2, 2026, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, WSJ.
At least one Kuwaiti F/A-18 is believed to be responsible, the report said.
According to a United States, US official, the pilot of the F/A-18 Hornet, manufactured by the US and sold to Kuwait, mistakenly launched three missiles towards the three US jets, which went down over Kuwait.
The incident was the first loss of an American aircraft since Operation Epic Fury began February 28, 2026 with a massive wave of American and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, which has retaliated with missiles and drones against Kuwait and countries across the Gulf after its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was assassinated in a joint US-Israeli airstrikes on Saturday.
Three US fighter jets, all of them F-15E Strike Eagles, were mistakenly downed in Kuwait – not Iran – by friendly Kuwaiti fire on Monday, according to the US military. The crews parachuted to safety.
The F-15E downing is the second known incident of US fighters being taken out by friendly fire in the Middle East in the past 15 months.