According to new reporting from the New York Times, a Houthi surface-to-air (SAM) missile barely missed an American F-35 fifth-generation fighter, the crown jewel of the U.S. fighter inventory. The F-35, participating in Operation Rough Rider against the Houthis, was forced to take evasive action to avoid the missile.
The incident raises questions about the survivability of one of America’s most advanced fighters, and raises concerns over how effective the relatively unsophisticated Houthi air defense system has been at hampering U.S. action.
I have a soft spot for new planes being shot down by “outdated” technologies.
[translations, copypasted, so you don’t have to visit the source on reddit]
translations:
Why are three marked off? They only shot down the one?
They are supposedly invisible, so you could never know
How reliable are US media reports?
If the Serbs shot more than one down we would have heard about it in 2000.
From who?
Did you hear about the Russians shooting down a plane armed with a nuclear missile in 2024?
From the Serbs? They bragged about shooting one 20 year old plane down. They would 100% brag about 3.
The reddit thread proposes it could have been a lie for propaganda.
Looking into it, it seems only three NATO planes seem to have been shot down total over the conflict. So maybe the propaganda piece was showing total shot down planes and using the F-117 as the model?
Good point, if they were already shot down then it’s possible.
Goes to show, that technology can only get you so far, if your doctrine sucks.
Also, they downed one and damaged another, why did they cross of three?
(See existing replies)