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Iran

Old 3rd March 2026 | 23:46
  #3181 (permalink)  
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From: Glorious Devon
Originally Posted by langleybaston
Sheesh! Convoys seem a hugely risky tactic. Big slow ships, not used to convoy dsicipline, big fat Navy assets nursing them. At night perhaps. Smoke screen reinvented. Radar suppression.

What could possibly go wrong? I hope this was wargamed,
A target rich environment with the added bonus of damaging a US vessel?
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Old 4th March 2026 | 00:10
  #3182 (permalink)  
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From: Texas
Originally Posted by RAFEngO74to09
Missile hit on Al Udeid - no casualties
Damage to $1.1 Billion AN/FPS-132 phased array radar claimed by Iran a few days ago now confirmed by Qatar & commercially available satellite imagery.
That is what one would call a "High Payoff Target" since disabling it degrades the future TBMD efforts. Someone in the Iranian MoD or IRGC is having a cigar.
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Old 4th March 2026 | 00:27
  #3183 (permalink)  
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WSJ - not usually a reliable source - claims a Kuwaiti F/A-18 shot down the 3 x USAF F-15E.

Source not named and CENTCOM declined to comment while under investigation.

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Old 4th March 2026 | 00:59
  #3184 (permalink)  
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From: surfing, watching for sharks
The War Zone online publication is also suggesting it was a Kuwaiti F18.
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Old 4th March 2026 | 02:04
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From: 3rd Rock, #29B
Originally Posted by RAFEngO74to09
WSJ - not usually a reliable source - claims a Kuwaiti F/A-18 shot down the 3 x USAF F-15E.

Source not named and CENTCOM declined to comment while under investigation.

Image
Where is the Kuwaiti proto-ace going to get his cigar from?
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Old 4th March 2026 | 02:10
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From: Australia
Originally Posted by fdr
Where is the Kuwaiti proto-ace going to get his cigar from?
Is this a record? 3 kills of a friendly force in one go.
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Old 4th March 2026 | 02:12
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From: surfing, watching for sharks
Originally Posted by fdr
Where is the Kuwaiti proto-ace going to get his cigar from?
In that stretch of the world, it may be something a little more ominous coming his way if he is found to be at fault. Different time, different country, but the Iraqi pilot who launched on the USS Stark reportedly was honored, others say he was executed.
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Old 4th March 2026 | 02:22
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From: Texas
Originally Posted by RAFEngO74to09
WSJ - not usually a reliable source - claims a Kuwaiti F/A-18 shot down the 3 x USAF F-15E.

Source not named and CENTCOM declined to comment while under investigation.
Ok, he got the hat trick. I guess he's buying the drinks at the O'Club.
(Oh, wait, do Kuwaiti pilots drink at home airbase, or do they go over the bridge to Bahrain to do that?)
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Old 4th March 2026 | 02:44
  #3189 (permalink)  
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From: 3rd Rock, #29B
Originally Posted by Lonewolf_50
Ok, he got the hat trick. I guess he's buying the drinks at the O'Club.
(Oh, wait, do Kuwaiti pilots drink at home airbase, or do they go over the bridge to Bahrain to do that?)
Maybe.. in 2000, around Gekkos bar in I-Tae-Won, one of our crews had an F-15 mate in town on an exercise... the talk turned towards the Eagle drivers experience in exercise with the same flock that we were flying jumbo's with post their retirement from defending the blue house. When prompted the Eagle driver commented that he had been shot down 3 times in the exercise so far, which was pretty impressive, he was up against some F-5Es and F-16s... We were surprised given our exposure to the elders of the same group, but it was explainable when the hapless aviator lamented that they had all been on Blue team along with him, which then, didn't seem quite so shocking.
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Old 4th March 2026 | 04:08
  #3190 (permalink)  
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From: Peripatetic
CENTCOM says that it destroyed Iran’s most operational submarine, which now “has a hole in its side”

Rumours circulated Iranian media yesterday that IRIS Fateh (920), the lead ship of its class, had been attacked near Bandar Abbass.



Video​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​Adm. Cooper: "We are also sinking the Iranian navy. The entire navy. Thus far, we've destroyed 17 Iranian ships. Including the most operational Iranian submarine, that now has a hole in its side." Unclassified DOW footage released today…
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Old 4th March 2026 | 04:56
  #3191 (permalink)  
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B-2s active again over Iran last night.

No sign of any tankers launching from the Azores so I wonder if they are now active out of Diego Garcia after Starmer’s U-turn.

​​​​​​​CBS reported B-2 bombers are currently involved in operations over Iran, targeting strategic IRGC command and control bases and other strategic facilities, as fresh explosion footage emerged from Tehran approximately 30 minutes ago.
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Old 4th March 2026 | 05:34
  #3192 (permalink)  
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From: troposphere
Iranian frigate sinking near Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka sent ships and aircraft to rescue 30 Iranian sailors aboard the Iranian frigate - Iris Dena - which was sinking Wednesday just ouside the island's territorial waters, AFP news agency reported, citing foreign minister Vijitha Herath said
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world...605277885.html
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Old 4th March 2026 | 06:55
  #3193 (permalink)  
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From: Beyond the Blue Horizon
Originally Posted by langleybaston
Sheesh! Convoys seem a hugely risky tactic. Big slow ships, not used to convoy dsicipline, big fat Navy assets nursing them. At night perhaps. Smoke screen reinvented. Radar suppression.

What could possibly go wrong? I hope this was wargamed,
LB
My cousin said one of the issues last time with convoys was the Grey Funnel fleet not realising the lack of manoeuvrability of their charges and also the suction effect of such large hulls as they dwarf even the largest aircraft carriers, so there were a couple of close calls when said Grey Funnels got too close. I think the routing as is currently was suspended and they hugged the Omani and UAE coast.

Cheers
Mac
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Old 4th March 2026 | 07:58
  #3194 (permalink)  
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From: Glorious Devon
Originally Posted by Lonewolf_50
Ok, he got the hat trick. I guess he's buying the drinks at the O'Club.
(Oh, wait, do Kuwaiti pilots drink at home airbase, or do they go over the bridge to Bahrain to do that?)
In my brief sojourns with the Kuwaiti forces at their Staff College, they were very TT. Bit of a schlepp to the bridge too!
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Old 4th March 2026 | 08:17
  #3195 (permalink)  
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From: Wythenshawe
Kuwaiti pilots, eh?
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Old 4th March 2026 | 09:08
  #3196 (permalink)  
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..............
​​​​​​​IRANIAN JET SHOT DOWN: An IAF F-35I “Adir” fighter jet shot down an Iranian Air Force YAK-130 fighter jet. This is the first shootdown in history of a manned fighter aircraft by an F-35 “Adir” fighter jet.
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Old 4th March 2026 | 09:10
  #3197 (permalink)  
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​​​​​​​Russian drone attacks Dubai.

Iran has attacked the United Arab Emirates with drones of Russian origin: Debris from the "Geran-2" was found in Dubai – media reports.

Following Iran's attack on the United Arab Emirates, fragments of a drone with the Russian designation "Geran-2" were found near the Jebel Ali port in Dubai.
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Old 4th March 2026 | 09:55
  #3198 (permalink)  
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From: Over the rainbow
Originally Posted by artee
Is this a record? 3 kills of a friendly force in one go.
I believe in the "Battle of Barking Creek" and also after Pearl Harbour three RAF Hurricanes and three Hellcats were downed by friendly fire in a single incident respectively.
Possibly friendly fire into three figures for "Operation Bodenplatte" although don't quote me on that.

Presumably if the F-15's were attacked with IR and the F-18 was dark they wouldn't have known about it until impact?
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Old 4th March 2026 | 11:27
  #3199 (permalink)  
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Didn't see this get any comments.

Well done the UK Lightning Force

https://theaviationist.com/2026/03/0...einforcements/
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Old 4th March 2026 | 11:58
  #3200 (permalink)  
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Report of Iranian ballistic missile intercepted by NATO forces over Turkey. Would be interesting to know if Turkey was the target or if it was heading further West. Sigonella would possibly fit with an interception over Hatay province?

https://bsky.app/profile/noelreports.../3mgaaybbeec27
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