A US fighter pilot rescued after his plane was shot down in Iran has given a bone-chilling account of the moments before he was forced to eject, describing how he was swarmed by Iranian drones moving together in unison like some nightmarish jellyfish from hell.
“Multiple drones interconnected and moving as one with smaller drones below the bigger drones like legs,” one of the sources familiar with the pilot’s witness account told CNN.
“Real alien sh*t,” the source added, recounting the pilot’s stunned reaction during his intelligence debriefing.
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Another source told CNN the pilot described witnessing a “minefield of drones” in the air.
While the exact cause of the F-15 downing is still being investigated, initial reports indicated that it was possible the drone formation had in some way enabled Iran to shoot down the American jet, according to two of the sources.
The F-15 carried a crew of two — a pilot and a weapons system officer. US forces immediately launched search and rescue efforts, CNN previously reported.
This is the new detail emerging from the April 2026 downing of a US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle over southwest Iran during Operation Epic Fury.
As The Gateway Pundit reported at the time, the jet was struck and destroyed. The pilot and Weapons Systems Officer ejected. One crew member was pulled out quickly.
The second evaded capture in a brutal, multi-day fight against Iranian IRGC and Basij terrorists, hiking ridges, using SERE training, and holding out until elite US Special Operations forces (including Pararescuemen) launched a daring Combat Search and Rescue mission under heavy fire. It was hailed as an “Easter Miracle” with zero American lives lost despite intense ground combat and even rescue helicopters taking hits.
During an interview with Axios, President Trump went into more detail about the mission.
This included the fact that the U.S. at first worried that a message from the stranded pilot of the F-15 shot down by Iran was a trap set by the Iranians to lure U.S. forces into a bloodbath.
Trump also revealed the pilot gave a short message on the radio that seemed ‘unusual.’
“He said, ‘Power be to God,’ ” Trump told Axios.
“What he said on the radio sounded like something a Muslim would say,” the president added.
A U.S. defense official later confirmed Trump’s account but said the phrase was actually slightly different: “God is good.”
The CIA pulled off a clever trick on the Iranian enemy.
Per the Daily Mail, the mission’s success was aided when Iranian forces were deceived after the CIA spread the word that US forces had already found the colonel.
In a final twist, two US transport planes were sent to extract the team became stranded at a remote base inside Iran, but our military had a solution.
Commanders ordered them destroyed rather than risk sensitive equipment falling into enemy hands, flying in replacement aircraft to complete the escape, the Times reported.
Jim Hᴏft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016.
You can email Jim Hᴏft here, and read more of Jim Hᴏft’s articles here.
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