US F-35 jet hit by Iran won't be operational anytime soon, pilot wounded: Report
A report has disclosed that the US military's advanced F-35 stealth fighter jet struck by Iranian air defense units, won't be able to resume operation anytime soon.
According to the US public radio station NPR, the warplane took some serious damage, and the pilot sustained shrapnel wounds.
Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for United States Central Command, had earlier told CNN that the fifth-generation jet was "flying a combat mission over Iran" when it was forced to make an emergency landing at an undisclosed US air base in West Asia.
This is the first time the US has admitted that Iranian air defenses managed to hit one of its fighter jets since the start of the unprovoked war of aggression against the Islamic Republic on February 28.
On Saturday, an unnamed military source told the Tasnim news agency that Iran used a domestically-developed air defense system to hit the US F-35 stealth fighter jet.
“The targeting of the American F-35, which the United States previously introduced to the world as the pride of its military technology, was done using the Iranian air defense system," the military source said.
The source underscored that Iran has yet to unveil some of its military achievements in the field of offense and defense, and the matter has bewildered US and Israeli officials.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced on Thursday that it had successfully hit a US Air Force F-35 stealth fighter jet in Iran's central airspace.
According to a statement released by the force, the warplane was struck at 2:50 p.m. local time by the IRGC's advanced, modern and integrated air defense systems.
At least six hostile fighter jets and 127 drones have been intercepted and targeted by the Iranian air defense systems since the war began.
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