Who Enabled Iran To Down An American F-15E Fighter Jet?

Peloni:  The clear security implications raised in this article have a direct bearing on the proposed sale of US F35s now being considered for various Arab states.  Becareful to whom you sell such vital strategic assets, because it one day you might live to seriously regret it.

Yigal Carmon | MEMRI | April , 2026

An F-15E. Photo by Ethan Wagner – Edwards.af.mil, Dvidshub, Public Domain, Wikipedia

On March 4, 2026, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said: “Starting last night and to be completed in a few days, in under a week, the two most powerful Air Forces in the world will have complete control of Iranian skies, uncontested airspace.”[1] Nevertheless, on April 3, the Iranians managed to down not only a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle, but also, reportedly, an A-10 Warthog.[2]

Several explanations were given in the media for this unexpected Iranian capability. One was that they were assisted by Russia or China. Another is that they were assisted by Turkey, a country that is a NATO member and whose president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Trump considers a friend. However, Turkey does not have F-15 fighter jets.

Nearly a decade ago, on November 28, 2016, in the context of the sale of the most advanced U.S. fighter jet of the time – the F-15QA – which was produced for Qatar, American Defense Department officials warned of another possibility: “This sale involves the release of sensitive technology to Qatar… If a technologically advanced adversary were to obtain knowledge of the specific hardware or software source code in this proposed sale, the information could be used to develop countermeasures which might reduce weapon system effectiveness or be used in the development of systems with similar or advance capabilities. The benefits to be derived from this sale in the furtherance of the U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives… outweigh the potential damage that could result if the sensitive technology were revealed to unauthorized persons.”[3] The political decision of the Obama administration at the time was to accept in advance that technology leakage was expected from the moment the components reached Qatar.[4]

The Defense Department document cited above connected to the sale of these technologies mentions Qatar alone. It is important to emphasize that those high technologies that make the buyer a risk exist only in the F-15QA, which was sold only to Qatar, a country that has proven over the years to be Iran’s ally and who tried in every way that it could to prevent President Trump from going to war with Iran and since the war was launched has been trying every way that it can to stop it, including applying measures to create and enhance a global energy crisis to force the president to end the war.

Unlike Russia and China, which would need to independently find the technical means of downing the F-15, and unlike Turkey, which lacks such sophisticated capabilities, Qatar had all the secrets handed to them with the sale of F-15QA. All that was necessary was to give them to Iran. There is no known indication that the Russians or Chinese have overcome the technological problem of downing an American F-15E, whereas it is known that Qatar had the solution already in their hands.

It would be advisable that the DOD experts who investigate the downing of the U.S. F-15E check the risk raised by their predecessors in President Obama’s administration.

*Yigal Carmon is founder and president of MEMRI