Military Watch:

Iran Shoots Down Third F-35 Fighter, Captures Second Pilot: What Are the Implications?

Middle East , Aircraft and Anti-Aircraft

Military Watch Magazine Editorial Staff

June-14th-2025

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Israeli Air Force F-35I

Iranian state media on June 14 reported the shootdown of a third Israeli F-35 fifth generation fighter in the country’s airspace, following two prior reported shootdowns and the capture of a female pilot. The aircraft was reportedly also shot down by ground-based air defence systems, with the pilot surviving and being apprehended. This has brought the total number of F-35 pilots captured to two. Military Watch previously analysed the likely veracity of Iranian claims in detail, including the strengths and limitations of the country’s air defences and the risks to F-35 squadrons as a result of to the means by which they have been employed. With the large majority of Israeli fighter squadrons considered effectively obsolete, relying on F-15s and F-16s using ageing mechanically scanned array radars, the F-35 is relied on heavily to spearhead attacks on Iranian targets, and is the only fighter that retains a degree of survivability for penetration missions deep into Iranian airspace. While F-15s and F-16s fire missiles into Iran from safe distances, the F-35 can overfly high priority targets such as nuclear sites to drop high diameter gravity bombs, which have a significantly greater penetrative capacity than air-launched missiles. This is particularly valuable against fortified underground targets, such as parts of the Natanz Nuclear Facility. 

Surface-to-Air Missile Battery From Iranian Bavar-373 Air Defence System

Although Iran’s air defences have long been considered formidable, the loss of just three F-35s during penetration strikes against well defended targets remains relatively conservative, with much higher loss rates expected had any other Western fighter class been employed for similar attacks. There is a signifiant possibility that had F-15s or F-16s been used for similar attacks, the majority of the fighters would not have been able to leave Iranian airspace. The F-35 pairs combines a reduced radar cross section and low infrared signature with one of the most powerful electronic warfare suites ever integrated onto a fighter. The F-35I variant employed by the Israeli Air Force is the only variant in the world that uses non-American electronic warfare systems, as Israel’s defence sector has been granted permission to for limited customisation of the aircraft. While these capabilities likely helped to limit the losses which F-35s suffered during their penetration strike, the reported disruption of Iranian air defences due to Israeli drone attacks launched from inside Iranian territory may have also been a major contributor. 

Destruction at Iran`s Natanz Nuclear Facility After Reported F-35 Strike

The consequences of the loss of three F-35s in combat will depend heavily on the amount of intelligence which Iran can obtain, both from data on their radar signatures, stealth features and electronic warfare capabilities during combat, but also from the remains of crashed fighters which may have intact electronics and stealth coatings. This intelligence, and that gained from the interrogation of the two surviving pilots, could be of significant interest to Iran’s strategic partners such as North Korea and China, which themselves confront significant F-35 fleets deployed by the U.S. and its allies in Northeast Asia. The F-35 was developed under the largest weapons program in history, and is the only fighter of its generation in production in the Western world, where it is heavily depended on to counter China’s own J-20 and FC-31 fifth generation aircraft. The American aircraaft was specifically developed with the primary mission of penetrating and neutralising advanced enemy air defences, which made it optimal for Israeli operations against Iran, and previously against Syria before the state’s fall to Turkish and Israeli backed insurgents in December 2024. Iran’s ability to defend against penetration attacks by F-35s is expected to improve both as its armed forces gain a better understanding of the aircraft, and as the country begins to receive modern fighter aircraft currently on order to support its ground-based air defences.