Why Did Kuwait Shoot Down 3 US F-15S?

2026-03-03 05:03:00

(MENAFN- Asia Times) Three US F-15E fighter jets were shot down over Kuwait on Sunday, March 1, by Kuwaiti air defense systems. No deaths were reported.

While an accidental shootdown can happen at any time in a complex warfighting environment, shooting down three F-15s suggests the Kuwaiti air defense operators shot at anything and everything.

Whether that is the case, of course, depends on US Central Command's investigation, but CENTCOM may not be willing to criticize an ally openly, assuming that is what happened.

Kuwait has modern air defense systems, including Patriot PAC-3 MSE and upgraded PAC-2. Kuwait also operates HAWK (MIM-23), an older air defense system, NASAMS, the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System also known as Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (possibly deployed), and SPADA, an Italian air defense system that uses Aspide interceptor missiles made by a European consortium (MBDA).

PAC-3 is a hit-to-kill kinetic interceptor while PAC-2 (including the GEM and GEM-T versions) uses blast fragmentation warheads. A PAC-3 missile must directly hit the enemy missile or aircraft. The PAC-2 explodes near the target and spews out metal fragments as it explodes.

At least one video of an F-15 in free fall after it was hit shows that the missile that hit it destroyed the vertical stabilizer of the F-15, making it inoperable. This could suggest a terminal heat-seeking missile instead of a radar guided one, but this is speculative.

Both PAC-3 and PAC-2 are guided to their target by ground radar. The same is true for HAWK, which uses an illuminator radar for target acquisition.

MENAFN03032026000159011032ID1110810436

Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.