Watch: US Air Force destroys multiple Iranian aircraft in new strike footage
March 6, 2026
The US’s CENTCOM and Israel have been releasing a steady stream of footage showing the destruction of Iran’s hapless air force on the ground. The US has been targeting everything from operational legacy Iranian fighter jets to derelict Iranian Fokkers that happened to be next to fighter jets.
US releases new footage of F-5 fighter and Fokker destruction
Yesterday, CENTCOM released flair footage showing it striking aircraft on the ground. Footage shows it striking an F-5 fighter parked between a pair of F27 (Fokker 50) aircraft.
The Iranian regime's ability to impact U.S. forces and regional partners is rapidly declining, while American combat power continues to build. pic.twitter.com/21TXHbWwFi
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 5, 2026
It seems those Fokkers were not operational with the OSINT account, Evergeen Intel posting. “I’ve been able to determine the F27 (Fokker 50) airframes are Karun Air’s EP-PET #7340B4, Naft Air’s EP-GAS #713C33 and EP-NFK #7338CB (all derelict).”
The F-5 may have been operational, as it wasn’t at that location in earlier satellite imagery.
The bulk of Iran’s airframes are likely derelict, and a number of the fighter jets targeted in this campaign, as well as by Israel in 2025, were derelict. The aircraft’s derelict status can be determined from satellite photos showing it hasn’t moved in a long time, sometimes for years.
Geolocation of destruction of F-27s and F-5s:
— Evergreen Intel (@vcdgf555) March 6, 2026
31.33563, 48.76275
Ahvaz International Airport, Khuzestan Province, Iran
Google Earth imagery taken 11/19/2025 for reference (F-5s not present). Aircraft were in current placement on 2/28/26. Runway was seen cratered by 3/05/26. https://t.co/XRMx7NZxWH pic.twitter.com/iZGnxPp4mO
CENTCOM’s footage shows the US targeting a Northrop F-5 Tiger, a Su-24, and possibly a Yak-130 or Su-25 on the ground.
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US, Israel, and Qatar are all destroying the Iranian air force
One open-source account compiling visually confirmed Iranian losses is Elmustek. The list includes two F-5s, one F-4, two Su-24s, one Yak-130, and six unknown fighter jets. It is likely the real losses are much higher, and aircraft destroyed in hangars may not be visible.
Updated: Operation Epic Fury – Documenting visually confirmed Equipment Losses during the 2026 Israel/USA – Iran War
— Elmustek (@elmustek) March 5, 2026
Link to Full list in Last Post.
This List only includes visual confirmed losses. https://t.co/mGHTmJJ0Ho pic.twitter.com/0XkiYtUdTz
Both Israel and the US have been targeting Iranian aircraft, but as the campaign has gone on, Israeli publicly released footage appears to mostly focus on the destruction of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers, while the US is releasing a greater range of targets from launchers, to ships, to aircraft.
So far, the only footage released showing an air-to-air kill is an Israeli F-35I shooting down an Iranian Yak-130 advanced trainer/light attack aircraft at close range.
A Qatari F-15 has also destroyed two Iranian Sukhoi Su-24s over the Gulf, but no footage of that has so far been released.
🎥WATCH: Footage from the historic shoot down of an Iranian Yak-130 fighter jet by an IAF “Adir” F-35I fighter jet pic.twitter.com/o6BAqiaNXk
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 5, 2026
Iran’s launches of ballistic missiles are now reported to have fallen by around 85%, demonstrating how effective Israel and the US have been in hunting down and systemically destroying its missile launch capability.
Despite ongoing rumours of a US F-15 shootdown, as of the time of writing, there are no confirmed reports of any US or Israeli fighter jets lost to enemy fire. Three US F-15Es were lost to friendly fire from a Kuwaiti F/A-18.
Footage of destruction of Iranian drone carrier
US CENTCOM has just released footage showing the double strike of the converted Iranian drone carrier, the IRIS Shahid Bagheri. The massive ship was converted from the container ship Perarin.
U.S. forces aren't holding back on the mission to sink the entire Iranian Navy. Today, an Iranian drone carrier, roughly the size of a WWII aircraft carrier, was struck and is now on fire. pic.twitter.com/WyA4fniZck
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 6, 2026
CENTCOM posted on the 6th of March, “U.S. forces aren’t holding back on the mission to sink the entire Iranian Navy. Today, an Iranian drone carrier, roughly the size of a WWII aircraft carrier, was struck and is now on fire.”
The post is a little confusing, as on the 2nd of March, CENTCOM stated, “The only carrier that has been hit is the Shahid Bagheri, an Iranian drone carrier. U.S. forces struck the ship within hours of launching Operation Epic Fury.”
🚫The Iranian regime’s false messaging machine continues to falsely claim that it has sunk a U.S. aircraft carrier.
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 2, 2026
✅The TRUTH: The only carrier that has been hit is the Shahid Bagheri, an Iranian drone carrier. U.S. forces struck the ship within hours of launching Operation… pic.twitter.com/6npT8nJcAt
It is unclear why CENTCOM said today it is “now on fire.” Perhaps it has been burning for multiple days, or perhaps it has already sunk. It is unclear how many advanced Iranian drones were lost with the ship.
Featured Image: CENTCOM
