If anyone remembers the incident from March 2nd when Qatari F-15s shot down two Iranian Fencer-Ds, Al Jazeera finally released footage showing the wreckages.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blzPXDAtbTc&t=1677s27:57I'm glad we got a follow up because this engagement always stuck out to me as the ballsiest action of the war. Think about being one of those four Sukhoi pilots; taking off in a 40+ year old airframe while your country is under bombardment, flying low, crossing the Persian Gulf knowing your already high chances of getting shot down only increase the closer you get to your destination. Nationality aside those guys were some of the bravest guys of this war.Gonna post .webms of the wreckages and animations of the shootdown from that Al Jazeera documentary for people who don't want to bother with the Arabic.Here's the original Qatari MoD announcement, too,https://x.com/MOD_Qatar/status/2028495558319435876And the CNN piece on it,https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/04/middleeast/qatar-downs-iran-bombers-us-base-intl
Nice scuba footage of recovery operations.
You can see the second Fencer-D appears to have taken evasive maneuvers after the first one was hit. Likely saw their buddies go and tried to beat the AAM.
Second and last animation. End of documentary .webms dump.
>>65071565Very cool stuff. I'm honestly surprised that they bothered with the recovery, but I guess the intel gathered from the two wreckage was worth it no matter what
>>65071565kino footage, thanks for posting
Some relatively recent photos of Iranian Su-24 Fencer-Ds (2022-2023) for reference.Possible that different airframes had different camo and marking styles, but if not it'd indicate they changed the camo and marking style before/for the current war. Registration number for 3-6850 used to be in black above the flag, while registration number for whatever airframe was shot down (3-68??) is in white below the flag here >>65071567 >>65071573
Interestingly this one's in Farsi, but it's the same airframe a year after the previous two photos; 3-6850 (۳-۶۸۵۰)Sources,https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/11523176https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/10520283https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/10948788
>>65071634>>65071639>>65071648I think I see what they did now; English numerals left-side rudder and right-side fuselage, Farsi numerals right-side rudder and left-side fuselage. Makes sense.
>>65071565Any word on what they were armed with? The Iranians are fanatical, but--to their credit--not wastefully suicidal. This attack just seems so hopeless I really struggle to wrap my head around it.
>>65071666I don't speak Arabic and YouTube's auto translate has flaws, but at 32:32 the question is asked and the defense spokesman seems to specify they were carrying bombs rather than missiles.
>>65071666Also, the Iraqis, despite having similar survival instincts, made a similarly ballsy attack during the Gulf War,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Ras_Tanurahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pqAJPM9ql4I think it comes down to crew initiative. Rubs some airmen the wrong way to just be destroyed on the ground without doing anything.
>>65071565So has the IRIAF entered eternal flight?
>>65071708Saw one post from a generally reliable OSINT account of an IRIAF C-130 still airborne yesterday,https://x.com/EGYOSINT/status/2043130146735935924Obviously the IRIAF is still largely destroyed and didn't pose much of a threat to begin with. I'm surprised they got aircraft off the ground for an attack at all, honestly.
Pilot status? Drowned?
>>65071732No time to eject. They were trying to fly under the radar at 80ft above the sea.
>>65071565Thanks for the post OP.Also>Shot down by F15sEagle-sama..I kneel.
>>65071565>taking off in a 40+ year old airframe while your country is under bombardment, flying low, crossing the Persian Gulf knowing your already high chances of getting shot down only increase the closer you get to your destination.this is an extremely high risk proposition even in motherfucking red dragon vs near peers in it's 'hey day', those were some die hard pilots
>>65071624If nothing else it'll tell you a bit about who they're getting parts from, the standards things are being kept to and give you a chance to see if there's any unexpected modifications or components from sources that really shouldn't have gotten there.
>>65071701That was at least well planned, by exploiting a gap in air control coverage. This was a YOLO charge straight across the gulf.
>>65071790Their command and control was rooted on day one, it's possible it was meant to be part of a larger plan that never materialised or was incorrectly triggered.Or four Su-24 drivers who figured they and their planes were likely dead in a couple hours anyway and chose to go out in style, and if so they absolutely did.
>>65071790Well to be fair to the Iranians they were intercepted only 3 minutes from target, so getting across the Gulf went pretty well. It was once they got near the other side where things went wrong.
good thread, i like the hd footage of the broken parts that was really nice
>>65071565>>65071605Even ignoring the significant CAP and SAM threat doing 540kn and 80ft takes balls of steel in training.
>>65071624>>65071789I imagine the main concern is are they domestic Iranian engines, their rockets are better than expected so it's not impossible.
>>65071761The K-36 seat is supposed to be 0-0
>>65072092At 80ft and 540 knots the plane would be into the sea before the warheads fireball disappeared.
>>65071920their rockets only have to do their job once though
>>65071789A long time ago now, but over a dozen Su-24's from lraq fled during the Gulf War to lran could have helped with spare parts
>>65071854>Well to be fair to the Iranians they were intercepted only 3 minutes from target, so getting across the Gulf went pretty well. It was once they got near the other side where things went wrong.Supposedly 2 su-24s bombed an american base in kuwait killing or wounding 6 americans. I guess it was these guys and they were going for target #2.
>>65072328Just No
>>65072328I've seen no confirmation of that claim.>>65072327Iran got it's first Su-24s at around the same time of the Gulf War.
>>65071854It's more accurate to say they were 2-3 minutes from reaching Qatar territory since they were downed in the sea. Qatar isn't very big and it wouldn't have took much more time to reach it, but the air base is more towards the middle of the country.
>>65071565mullah retards fail hard and die no one cares
>>65072328>>65072328>Supposedlyyou have a brain but,no it is made of brown.
>>65072092Russian/soviet ejection seats never were 0-0 despite the claims
>>65072092Russian seats are surprisingly good but you still need time to initiate and execute the sequence before your various atoms are no longer neighbours.
