[dabigv13]

https://x.com/Blaxk__Bird/status/2029736...74181?s=20

More video from the F-18 v F-15 fiasco. The Kuwaiti F18 was not far, close visual range. Very bizarre. Intentional?

I have avoided going there, but this has been a possibility all along. Others have been speculating on the internet, particularly when the cause of the shootdowns was identified as an F-18. It would only take one guy to do the deed. Much easier than getting a battery commander and some of his staff to "go along". As one blogger correctly pointed out this engagement was not "ripple fire" on one target. It would require three separate "designate-shoot" operations. Each time the pilot would have to focus on a target. One might argue the light should have come on at some point.
 
However, as others have also pointed out, the "fog of war" is real. We have no idea what link-16 data (if any) the pilot had. The pilot could (at least in theory) been shooting at drones flying at lower altitude that the F-15. The massively larger thermal signature may have pulled the AIM-9 off and captured its seeker. That does happen. OTOH the pilot should know what an F-15 looks like from a tail aspect. However, it COULD be confused with a MIG-29, which Iran does operate. Both have twin tails. An SU-24, another possible choice,  is much less likely because it has a single tail. Gun camera film would be nice to have so we could know exactly what he saw when he fired each missile. Not sure we will ever see it.

In the words of Ian Fleming, “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action.” I didn’t want to go there either but…

BC

I have read a theory that since Kuwait had earlier pledged not to allow strikes against Iran from their territory, their pilots may not have been operating with expectation US aircraft would be there at all. I'm not sure I fully buy that, but it seems clear that the Gulf states were definitely not at all in the loop on this war from the beginning.

[dabigv13]

https://x.com/Blaxk__Bird/status/2029736...74181?s=20

More video from the F-18 v F-15 fiasco. The Kuwaiti F18 was not far, close visual range. Very bizarre. Intentional?

I have avoided going there, but this has been a possibility all along. Others have been speculating on the internet, particularly when the cause of the shootdowns was identified as an F-18. It would only take one guy to do the deed. Much easier than getting a battery commander and some of his staff to "go along". As one blogger correctly pointed out this engagement was not "ripple fire" on one target. It would require three separate "designate-shoot" operations. Each time the pilot would have to focus on a target. One might argue the light should have come on at some point.
 
However, as others have also pointed out, the "fog of war" is real. We have no idea what link-16 data (if any) the pilot had. The pilot could (at least in theory) been shooting at drones flying at lower altitude that the F-15. The massively larger thermal signature may have pulled the AIM-9 off and captured its seeker. That does happen. OTOH the pilot should know what an F-15 looks like from a tail aspect. However, it COULD be confused with a MIG-29, which Iran does operate. Both have twin tails. An SU-24, another possible choice,  is much less likely because it has a single tail. Gun camera film would be nice to have so we could know exactly what he saw when he fired each missile. Not sure we will ever see it.

In the words of Ian Fleming, “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action.” I didn’t want to go there either but…

BC

I have read a theory that since Kuwait had earlier pledged not to allow strikes against Iran from their territory, their pilots may not have been operating with expectation US aircraft would be there at all. I'm not sure I fully buy that, but it seems clear that the Gulf states were definitely not at all in the loop on this war from the beginning.