Epic Fury

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Regime fires missile from civilian population center. Missile malfunctions and falls on the city.


https://www.reddit.com/r/NewIran/comments/1sbfesh/video_showing_the_malfunctioning_missile_that_was/

[ADsOutburst]

I overheard part of a news report about the downed F-15. I only caught a little bit, but dang, it sounded a bit like the reporter was cheerleading the Iranians. Maybe I'm wrong, but he said something like "Iran is showing it can shoot a high-tech F-15, and hopes this is a turning point in the war" (paraphrase).

I really, really hope they find the second crewmember alive, but militarily, I don't think shooting down an F-15E wins the war for Iran. It is a PR victory for the Iranians. The Iraqis shot down something in the neighborhood of 40 coalition aircraft in Desert Storm, and they still lost decisively.

[SVPete]

From my Breaking News post, this is a significant loss, obviously.

In the context of the past 5 weeks, the US has been flying B-52s, B-1s, F-15Es, and F/A-18E/Fs in Iranian airspace for 4 weeks or more, and A-10Cs for 2 or 4 weeks (reports vary). B-52s and B-1s have the RCS and IR visibility of an adult bull African elephant. F-15Es and F/A-18E/Fs have the RCS and IR visibility of a black rhino. And A-10Cs are Warthogs. In context, what is remarkable and indicative of how things stand is that this is Iran's first shootdown.