The F-15 Strike Eagle is arguably the bedrock of the US Air Force. The fighter jet has been in service for over 50 years and has an astonishing track record. For example, over those decades, only a handful have ever been lost: two in the 1991 Gulf War and one in the 2003 Iraq War.
So eyebrows were raised last month when three of them were shot down on March 1 over Kuwait in what was described as a “friendly fire incident” involving Kuwaiti air defenses. This was an embarrassing moment for both the United States and Kuwait, as the estimated cost for the lost aircraft and their replacements is estimated to be roughly $300 million.
You might think Donald Trump would have some angry words for Kuwait for destroying such valuable hardware. But apparently not, as Trump considers this merely an “oopsie” moment. While speaking to journalists, he said:
Trump: "Kuwait, they had a little mishap. They shot down three planes with our missiles. They happened to be our planes." pic.twitter.com/t0QVOVOgKb
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 24, 2026
“Kuwait. They had a little mishap. They shot down three planes with our missiles. They happened to be our planes. But the pilots made it. Can you imagine the pilots making it? The pilots know what was coming… and they said ‘those were patriots, we’re not gonna escape patriots’ and they got out of there pretty quickly right? Pretty amazing. That… they got out. The three pilots lived! In fact, they’re flying today.”
“They thought they were firing at… the enemy”
🚨BREAKING
— HZ🕊️ (@silentd3fiance) March 23, 2026
US F-15 fighter shot down in Kuwait pic.twitter.com/dUNtgcmOMH
A reporter asked Trump if this was just friendly fire. He replied, “Yes, the Kuwaitis made a mistake… they fired. They thought they were firing at… the enemy. It was, as the expression goes “friendly fire” But, uh.. the pilots are great.”
There is a theory that, in fact, the F-15s were not actually shot down Kuwait and were instead shot down by the Iranians or Houthi rebels. The thinking goes that losing three F-15s would be a humiliating moment for the United States, so they cooked up a friendly fire story to save face. This would, of course, also explain why Trump is so weirdly relaxed and dismissive about this.
That said, there’s no evidence that these F-15s were shot down by anything other than Kuwaiti friendly fire, so we have no choice to but to believe the official story.
Either way, the American taxpayer has just seen $300 million crash into a flaming pile of wreckage in the desert. As a vague reference, that amount of money could have built around 10 new elementary schools in the United States or one mid-size hospital for a mid-size town.
But I guess the military industrial complex death machine takes priority over little things like the health and education of regular Americans. All of which means that Trump can casually write off hundreds of millions of dollars as just an unfortunate mishap. Fortunately for him, that’s a mishap you’re going to pay for, and he won’t be out one dime.
Published: Mar 25, 2026 06:22 am