The media has published the first results of the investigation into the incident involving the crash of American F-15 aircraft in Kuwait. According to three people familiar with the initial reports of the incident that occurred on Sunday, March 2, the Kuwaiti F/A-18 fighter was responsible for the accidental interception of three American aircraft.
An F/A-18 pilot fired three missiles, an American source reported. All three American aircraft fell, however, their pilots safely ejected, the Wall Street Journal writes.
The incident occurred shortly after several Iranian drones breached Kuwait's air defense system, with one of them striking a tactical operations center in a commercial port and killing six American servicemen, another source reported. Kuwaiti military personnel were in a state of stress and tension when their radars detected the aircraft flying and opened fire on them, the source said. A U.S. CENTCOM representative declined to comment on the situation. The incident is under investigation, and the official cause of the crash may change.
The aircraft were conducting a flight in support of Operation Epic Fury. The incident occurred during active hostilities, which included, among other things, attacks by aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones from Iran. In these circumstances, U.S. Air Force fighters were mistakenly shot down by Kuwait's air defense. Dramatic footage of the interception, which quickly spread on the social network X (formerly Twitter), shows a fighter jet catching fire and spiraling down to the ground.
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>BREAKING: The U.S. military says three U.S. F-15 fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwait this morning in a “friendly fire” incident.
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) March 2, 2026
“Three US F-15E Strike Eagles flying in support of Operation Epic Fury went down over Kuwait due to an apparent friendly fire incident,”… pic.twitter.com/4csJRpJmgs
