The fog of war is unforgiving, and we now have footage showing exactly how the tragic friendly fire incident over Kuwait unfolded.

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In this update, John "Rain" Waters analyzes newly surfaced ground video that appears to show a Kuwaiti F-18 launching a missile at a U.S. F-15 Strike Eagle. We address a massive viewer question: why didn't the highly trained F-15 pilots take evasive maneuvers? We break down the technical limitations of legacy aircraft, visual misidentifications, and the chaotic communication breakdowns that led to this catastrophic event.

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Key takeaways from this video:


The Footage: New ground footage appears to show an F-18 taking a shot at one of the U.S. Strike Eagles, sending it into a flat spin before the crew successfully ejected.
Why No Reaction?: If the Kuwaiti pilot fired an AIM-9 infrared missile, it would cue off the heat of the F-15's engines rather than radar, meaning the U.S. pilots likely had no warning they were being targeted.
Guard Down: The F-15s were likely returning from a mission or diverting, meaning their guard against air-to-air threats was down.


Equipment Limitations: Kuwait's legacy F-18s lack helmet-mounted cueing and Link 16 data links, severely limiting the pilot's situational awareness regarding friendly aircraft in the airspace.


Visual Misidentification: At ranges of a couple of miles, the twin-tail silhouette of an F-15 looks almost identical to an Iranian twin-tail MiG-29.

Communication Breakdown: With Kuwait actively under attack, critical communications regarding diverting U.S. fighters likely failed to reach the defensive counter-air pilots patrolling the skies.
----
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In this urgent update, we're discussing a friendly fire incident over Kuwait involving three F-15 Strike Eagles. Join us as we analyze how this critical event unfolded, impacting our USAF personnel during Operation Epic Fury. The video also shows footage of the F-15E aircraft, a missile launch, and military personnel operating equipment, highlighting the complexities of military games and operations in the ongoing Middle East conflict and Iran war.

In this update on Operation Epic Fury, we dive deeper into the shocking news that three modern, 4th-generation F-15 Strike Eagles were shot down by friendly fire over Kuwait. Miraculously, all six crew members survived. We break down incredible footage of one crew member on the ground executing his SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) training to de-escalate a tense confrontation with a hostile local.

How did 3 F-15Es Get Shot Down? https://youtu.be/Z3ihVQLDCjA

🔺 Grab our free newsletter for insights into aviation, defense, and geopolitics - https://bit.ly/AfterburnNewsletter 🔺

We also explore how this happened. With the entire Gulf region under relentless drone and ballistic missile attacks from Iran, defensive systems like Patriot and Hawk batteries are operating under extreme stress. We discuss the challenges of integrated air and missile defense, the depletion of critical interceptor stockpiles like the AIM-120 and AIM-9, and what this means if the U.S. ever faces a near-peer threat like China.

🔸Join this channel to get access to perks:
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---
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Recorded on Riverside.fm https://www.riverside.fm/?via=afterburn
----
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The fog of war has officially set in. Last night at 11:03 PM Eastern, three U.S. Air Force F-15 Strike Eagles were shot down over Kuwait in a devastating friendly fire incident. Miraculously, all six crew members successfully ejected and were recovered.

What the F-15 Crew Did Right: https://youtu.be/jVwpS9Vuu0c

🔸Join this channel to get access to perks:
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🇺🇸 Support Veterans in Their Time of Need or Apply for Help: http://gunsgarin.com/rain 🇺🇸
---
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Launch your aviation career: https://bogidope.com/?bd=rain

Recorded on Riverside.fm https://www.riverside.fm/?via=afterburn
----
✈️ Afterburn Podcast Links ✈️
Support The Afterburn Podcast for on Patreon and gain early access and AD Free episodes. Plus access to “There I was…” stories. https://www.patreon.com/theafterburnpodcast
Website – https://www.theafterburnpodcast.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rainwaters27/?hl=enS
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X - https://x.com/AfterburnPod
In this urgent update, we're discussing a friendly fire incident over Kuwait involving three F-15 Strike Eagles. Join us as we analyze how this critical event unfolded, impacting our USAF personnel. The video also shows footage of the F-15E aircraft, a missile launch, and military personnel operating equipment, highlighting the complexities of military games and operations.

The Middle East military buildup is accelerating rapidly. In the last 24 hours, U.S. F-35s and F-22s have moved into the region. But the real game-changer? Reuters reports that Iran is close to finalizing a deal with China for the CM-302 supersonic anti-ship missile—a Mach 3 "carrier killer"

In this episode, John "Rain" Waters dives deep into the specs of the Chinese CM-302 missile. With a 550-pound warhead, sea-skimming flight profile, and terminal active radar seeker, it compresses the reaction time for U.S. destroyers to almost zero. We look at the U.S. Navy's primary defense—the SM-6 missile—and analyze the IRGC's recent coastal drills, which state TV explicitly called preparation for a U.S. strike.
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---
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Recorded on Riverside.fm https://www.riverside.fm/?via=afterburn
----
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Support The Afterburn Podcast for on Patreon and gain early access and AD Free episodes. Plus access to “There I was…” stories. https://www.patreon.com/theafterburnpodcast
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Former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, Gerald "Runner" Brown, was arrested by the FBI and is accused of allegedly providing defense services to the Chinese military.

In this episode, John "Rain" Waters explores the allegations against Gerald Brown and shares why he thinks that if true, these accusations are exceptionally heinous.


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---

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Recorded on Riverside.fm https://www.riverside.fm/?via=afterburn
----
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Support The Afterburn Podcast for on Patreon and gain early access and AD Free episodes. Plus access to “There I was…” stories. https://www.patreon.com/theafterburnpodcast
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We cover the arrest of a former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, Gerald Brown, accused of providing defense services to the Chinese military. This incident highlights serious concerns regarding military technology and the exploitation of U.S. military expertise. The allegations involve a former fighter jet instructor, underscoring the gravity of unauthorized assistance to a foreign power like china.

In this episode, we conduct a detailed Ukrainian F-16 drone shootdown video breakdown. New combat footage from February 9, 2026, shows a pilot successfully prosecuting an air-to-air gunnery attack against a Russian Geran-2 (Shahed-136) kamikaze drone.

This is the cheapest drone kill seen in the conflict to date. Instead of launching a million-dollar AIM-120 AMRAAM or an AIM-9X missile, the pilot "turned on the chainsaw," utilizing the F-16’s internal M61 Vulcan 20mm rotary cannon.
Key technical insights in this briefing

F-16 Vulcan Cannon Specs: The F-16 carries only 510 rounds, giving the pilot roughly five seconds of total trigger time (about two bursts) before the magazine is dry.

The Tactical Challenge: Hunting a small Shahed-136 drone (only 11 feet long) moving at 100 knots while flying an F-16 at 350–400 knots.

Advanced Sensor Integration: How pilots use a radar lock to cue the Sniper targeting pod, feeding a "green diamond" of symbology into the Heads-Up Display (HUD) or helmet to find a gray drone against a snow-covered Ukrainian landscape.

Low-Altitude Risks: Why these engagements are prosecuted as low as 75 to 1,000 feet AGL, placing the aircraft inside a dangerous, integrated air defense network.


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Recorded on Riverside.fm https://www.riverside.fm/?via=afterburn
----
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Support The Afterburn Podcast for on Patreon and gain early access and AD Free episodes. Plus access to “There I was…” stories. https://www.patreon.com/theafterburnpodcast
Website – https://www.theafterburnpodcast.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rainwaters27/?hl=enS
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The fog of war is unforgiving, and we now have footage showing exactly how the tragic friendly fire incident over Kuwait unfolded.

🔺 Grab our free newsletter for insights into aviation, defense, and geopolitics - https://bit.ly/AfterburnNewsletter 🔺

In this update, John "Rain" Waters analyzes newly surfaced ground video that appears to show a Kuwaiti F-18 launching a missile at a U.S. F-15 Strike Eagle. We address a massive viewer question: why didn't the highly trained F-15 pilots take evasive maneuvers? We break down the technical limitations of legacy aircraft, visual misidentifications, and the chaotic communication breakdowns that led to this catastrophic event.

🔸Join this channel to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8gLFapmHedK1TvsStG5Cuw/join🔸

🔺 Grab our free newsletter for insights into aviation, defense, and geopolitics - https://bit.ly/AfterburnNewsletter 🔺

🇺🇸 Support Veterans in Their Time of Need or Apply for Help: http://gunsgarin.com/rain 🇺🇸
---
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Scrub Your Info from Data Brokers & Protect Yourself | https://aura.com/afterburn
14-day free trial

Launch your aviation career: https://bogidope.com/?bd=rain

Recorded on Riverside.fm https://www.riverside.fm/?via=afterburn

Key takeaways from this video:


The Footage: New ground footage appears to show an F-18 taking a shot at one of the U.S. Strike Eagles, sending it into a flat spin before the crew successfully ejected.
Why No Reaction?: If the Kuwaiti pilot fired an AIM-9 infrared missile, it would cue off the heat of the F-15's engines rather than radar, meaning the U.S. pilots likely had no warning they were being targeted.
Guard Down: The F-15s were likely returning from a mission or diverting, meaning their guard against air-to-air threats was down.


Equipment Limitations: Kuwait's legacy F-18s lack helmet-mounted cueing and Link 16 data links, severely limiting the pilot's situational awareness regarding friendly aircraft in the airspace.


Visual Misidentification: At ranges of a couple of miles, the twin-tail silhouette of an F-15 looks almost identical to an Iranian twin-tail MiG-29.

Communication Breakdown: With Kuwait actively under attack, critical communications regarding diverting U.S. fighters likely failed to reach the defensive counter-air pilots patrolling the skies.
----
✈️ Afterburn Podcast Links ✈️
Support The Afterburn Podcast for on Patreon and gain early access and AD Free episodes. Plus access to “There I was…” stories. https://www.patreon.com/theafterburnpodcast
Website – https://www.theafterburnpodcast.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rainwaters27/?hl=enS
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afterburnpodcast/
X - https://x.com/AfterburnPod
In this urgent update, we're discussing a friendly fire incident over Kuwait involving three F-15 Strike Eagles. Join us as we analyze how this critical event unfolded, impacting our USAF personnel during Operation Epic Fury. The video also shows footage of the F-15E aircraft, a missile launch, and military personnel operating equipment, highlighting the complexities of military games and operations in the ongoing Middle East conflict and Iran war.

In this update on Operation Epic Fury, we dive deeper into the shocking news that three modern, 4th-generation F-15 Strike Eagles were shot down by friendly fire over Kuwait. Miraculously, all six crew members survived. We break down incredible footage of one crew member on the ground executing his SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) training to de-escalate a tense confrontation with a hostile local.

How did 3 F-15Es Get Shot Down? https://youtu.be/Z3ihVQLDCjA

🔺 Grab our free newsletter for insights into aviation, defense, and geopolitics - https://bit.ly/AfterburnNewsletter 🔺

We also explore how this happened. With the entire Gulf region under relentless drone and ballistic missile attacks from Iran, defensive systems like Patriot and Hawk batteries are operating under extreme stress. We discuss the challenges of integrated air and missile defense, the depletion of critical interceptor stockpiles like the AIM-120 and AIM-9, and what this means if the U.S. ever faces a near-peer threat like China.

🔸Join this channel to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8gLFapmHedK1TvsStG5Cuw/join🔸

🔺 Grab our free newsletter for insights into aviation, defense, and geopolitics - https://bit.ly/AfterburnNewsletter 🔺

🇺🇸 Support Veterans in Their Time of Need or Apply for Help: http://gunsgarin.com/rain 🇺🇸
---
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Scrub Your Info from Data Brokers & Protect Yourself | https://aura.com/afterburn
14-day free trial

Launch your aviation career: https://bogidope.com/?bd=rain

Recorded on Riverside.fm https://www.riverside.fm/?via=afterburn
----
✈️ Afterburn Podcast Links ✈️
Support The Afterburn Podcast for on Patreon and gain early access and AD Free episodes. Plus access to “There I was…” stories. https://www.patreon.com/theafterburnpodcast
Website – https://www.theafterburnpodcast.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rainwaters27/?hl=enS
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afterburnpodcast/
X - https://x.com/AfterburnPod

The fog of war has officially set in. Last night at 11:03 PM Eastern, three U.S. Air Force F-15 Strike Eagles were shot down over Kuwait in a devastating friendly fire incident. Miraculously, all six crew members successfully ejected and were recovered.

What the F-15 Crew Did Right: https://youtu.be/jVwpS9Vuu0c

🔸Join this channel to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8gLFapmHedK1TvsStG5Cuw/join🔸

🔺 Grab our free newsletter for insights into aviation, defense, and geopolitics - https://bit.ly/AfterburnNewsletter 🔺

🇺🇸 Support Veterans in Their Time of Need or Apply for Help: http://gunsgarin.com/rain 🇺🇸
---
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Scrub Your Info from Data Brokers & Protect Yourself | https://aura.com/afterburn
14-day free trial

Launch your aviation career: https://bogidope.com/?bd=rain

Recorded on Riverside.fm https://www.riverside.fm/?via=afterburn
----
✈️ Afterburn Podcast Links ✈️
Support The Afterburn Podcast for on Patreon and gain early access and AD Free episodes. Plus access to “There I was…” stories. https://www.patreon.com/theafterburnpodcast
Website – https://www.theafterburnpodcast.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rainwaters27/?hl=enS
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afterburnpodcast/
X - https://x.com/AfterburnPod
In this urgent update, we're discussing a friendly fire incident over Kuwait involving three F-15 Strike Eagles. Join us as we analyze how this critical event unfolded, impacting our USAF personnel. The video also shows footage of the F-15E aircraft, a missile launch, and military personnel operating equipment, highlighting the complexities of military games and operations.