A US Air Force F-15 fighter jet reportedly crashed in Kuwait on March 2, 2026, with online footage showing the aircraft descending in flames before impact and at least one aircrew member ejecting by parachute.
The incident has been widely described online as a possible “friendly fire” loss, but neither the US military nor Kuwaiti authorities had issued a public statement confirming the cause, location, or unit involved at the time of writing.
A video circulating online appears to show the fighter falling in a flat spin, with its engines engulfed in flames.
A US fighter jet reportedly crashed/downed over Kuwait. Pilots parachuted. pic.twitter.com/KQaLxeSDLc
— Baxtiyar Goran ☀️ (@BaxtiyarGoran) March 2, 2026
Posts circulating on social media claimed the aircraft’s pilot and weapons systems officer both ejected and were later located on the ground by local civilians. Separate images shared on social platforms purport to show one of the airmen being moved in a civilian vehicle, while the other one is recovered by civilians near his parachute.
Both the Pilot and Weapons Systems Officer (WSO) onboard the U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle that crashed this morning over Kuwait due to a “friendly fire” incident, appear to have survived, being found by locals and transferred to local authorities in Kuwait. pic.twitter.com/HyxpeI0QUL
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 2, 2026
Kuwait reports drone interceptions as air defenses remain on high alert
Kuwait said its air defenses intercepted an unspecified number of “hostile aerial targets” at dawn on March 2, 2026, with no injuries reported, according to state news agency KUNA, citing civil defense director-general Mohammed Al-Mansouri. A plume of smoke was reported above the Embassy of the United States in Kuwait City.
The interceptions came amid a third day of Iranian retaliation strikes across Gulf states following US and Israeli attacks on Iran, as regional air defenses remain on high alert. Kuwait’s Health Ministry said that one person had been killed and 32 others, all foreign nationals, had been injured in Kuwait since the start of the Iranian bombing campaign.