In April, Iran shot down an American F-15E fighter jet over southern Iran with a shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile. Both the pilot and the weapons officer ejected. The pilot was rescued quickly, but the weapons officer was missing for nearly two days, hiding from Iranian security forces until U.S. Special Operations forces rescued him in a daring operation.*
In this case, Iran learned from Ukraine and deployed a swarm of drones in an area American fighter jets had penetrated, a senior U.S. military official said. In interviews with Pentagon officials, the crew said that the F-15E’s defensive countermeasures provided only half a second of warning before Iran hit the $60 million advanced fighter jet with a shoulder-fired missile.
Mr. Trump announced a “pause” in the fighting shortly after that incident. Military officials needed time to adjust to Iran’s new tactics, two military officials said.
The Pentagon has used more than 1,500 Patriot interceptor missiles in the war and has fewer than 1,700 interceptors left, according to two people briefed on the stockpile levels who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military details. The United States produced about 600 interceptors in all of 2025.
On a single day during that deadly week last month, according to two U.S. officials, American forces in the Middle East fired about 50 Patriot interceptors, which cost about $4 million each.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Trump called off bombing raids against Iran after he said the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar had asked him to pursue diplomatic talks to end the war, which has killed an estimated 1,700 Iranian civilians.