USAF F-15Es (And F-16s!) Shoot Down Iranian Drones

Mover and Gonky discuss US involvement in shooting down Iranian Drones/Missiles inbound for Israel.
Join the channel to watch LIVE every Monday at 8PM ET or to see full episodes of The Mover and Gonky Show. You can also join in on LIVE Q&As with the Mover Mailbag: / @cwlemoine Monday at 8PM ET, Mover (F-16, F/A-18, T-38, 737, helicopter pilot, author, cop, and wanna be race car driver) and Gonky (F/A-18, T-38, A320, dirt bike racer, author, and awesome dad) discuss everything from aviation to racing to life and anything in between.
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The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.
Views presented are my own and do not represent the views of DoD or its Components.

[@rodf.7849]

Old Patriot huy here. Was there in 90-91. Patriot still saving lives over 30 years later.

[@-108-]

And MUCH improved! Patriots weren't very effective back then, to say the least.

[@jamesholden5664]

New Patriot is far superior. Old Patriot was really designed to kill aircraft wich I'm sure it was good at not scud ballistic missiles. The new Patriot is a whole new watch dog.

[@rbrtck]

​@@-108- There is a general improvement, but a big part of the difference has been adding actual ABM capabilities and interceptors that were expressly designed to take down ballistic missiles. The Patriot was not only much newer back in the day, it was also used for a purpose it was never designed to be used for (at the time), which never helps.

[@hoghogwild]

That's awesome! I've always been fascinated by Patriot Were you one of the lucky ones who got extended out to over 2 years? I can't imagine getting new systems and then deploying immediately for the desert. You guys did your job and did it well. Patriot is everywhere these days.

[@karlbrundage7472]

@@-108- Patriots were doing "hit-to-kill" against Scuds back in '91. How were they not effective?

[@Chibbs.E]

"Thanks guys. Merry Christmas." Gonky, I love you. Lmao

[@DaytonaRider1]

" hey guys... merry Christmas.." Legend.

[@mikesmith-wk7vy]

hard not to notice how pathetic our commander in chief is

[@bcluett1697]

The bullet proof vest analogy was interesting. I think in this case though Iran was telegraphing so much it was like they were telling the person they'd be shooting at "put on your bullet proof vest" and then shot them in the vest. I don't know if it's attempted murder in that case but it is reckless for sure. Like Gonky says very lucky something didn't go savagely wrong like hitting multiple targets after some sort of failure. Playing theater with weapons of mass destruction is insane.

[@xv6701]

I’ve heard Iran actually informed Israel/US how they would respond and what they were targeting.

[@deanwilliams433]

@@xv6701 False. They informed Turkey which then informed US/NATO

[@RedFail1-1]

Can't beat the Eagle, even the Strike Eagle. The radar in that thing is ridiculous.

[@jamesholden5664]

Don't know wich person and which radar but the new radar being put into the F15ex version is sick best radar in the world by far.

[@chesty1369]

I thought one of the planes got shot down in antarctica and the pilot was eaten by cannibals

[@justanotheroglesby2847]

😂

[@timpeterson2738]

Ya my wife's eyelash girls boyfriends sister inlaws best friend from high school said its true.

[@ilikegliding]

Spot on. Both sides are under political pressure: Netanyahu that has to fix his stuff-up with his complacency which made the Hamas attack possible; and Iran which has to display anti-Israel show of force to the militants inside Iran. Furthermore the coordinated Nato assistance to Israel in shooting down these drones and missiles also testifies to the fact of pre-knowledge. Also the restraint by Israel in not escalating things into a full-scale war (despite the rhetoric on both sides) also suggests that strategic targets inside Iran were more important for Israel and Nato. With regards to Iran testing/sniffing Israeli defensive capabilities - I agree that it is highly likely. there Intel would really be lazy/incompetet if they didnt. But I am sure the intel would be shared with Iran's allies (such as Russia).

[@stellarsnow1212]

Tell me you don’t know anything about the Strike Eagle without telling me Mover. 😂 such a Fighting Falcon thing to say, “there’s two of them so they have half the SA”

[@karlbrundage7472]

"Thanks guys.... Merry Christmas!" Gonky, you owe me a keyboard......................

[@nicholaslewis7148]

No mention of 5th gen like you said. Could they maybe only have engaged in the target acquisition process and helping manage the airspace based on the touted electronics sweet on an F-35?

[@rbrtck]

USAF 5th-gen fighters simply weren't in the region at the time, and the US Navy only fired at ballistic missiles with Aegis. Israeli F-35s did participate in taking down the drones, however.

[@gershonportnoy5589]

Israel hit a building near the consulate in Damascus-not the iranian embassy- it is irgc command building.

[@ahsenkhan5386]

or that ISraeli biased media are great on telling lies @@trekmanone1676

[@ahsenkhan5386]

They hit the consulate Proof is in he vid everywhere in the interenet

[@gershonportnoy5589]

@@trekmanone1676 Still we love Mover and Gonky

[@Houthiandtheblowfish]

pretty sure it wasnt part of the embassey complex

[@BencerCourt123]

It is a consulate

[@pf6797]

+100 algorithm points for proper TomCats pronunciation. 🛩

[@mytee5287]

494th were Lakenheath birds. 335th are Seymour Johnson.

[@squidly1117]

"Merry Christmas" LMAO

[@gershonportnoy5589]

Reinforced concrete walls were shaking in Jerusalem at the time of the interception in the sky above.

[@sunanogaara6721]

Concerning which of the three options from the start makes most sense: they're not exclusive. The "what if when one came thru" is the interesting one. Did Iran assume success (which would mean a huge escalation) or did they expect the AA to hold (what do they know already)?

[@mracer8]

It won't be downtown Tel Aviv even if a cruise missile get thru if they are flying toward some air base out in the desert somewhere! did you have information that any cruise missile/ballistic missile is headed toward Tel Aviv?

[@ATBatmanMALS31]

Weird, the internet was oddly quiet about this one... lol

[@mracer8]

I might be totally wrong, but from what I read, the "drone" part of the attack mean the drone were flying at around 150-250mph for over 1-2 hrs over friendly/open air space that Allied force can bring their figher and shoot them down with "Gun"! since I assume those basic drone have little capability to know what is up top/behind/under them so they won't really be able to get away since they wouldn't even know when a fighter is behind them!! I wouldn't think Allied would waste aa missile to down those 100+drone! when you are talking about ballistic missile! ok, yeah! that will take AA for sure!

[@mohawksniper79]

I think they will wait and see where the resupply is coming from and hit the supply.

[@ilejovcevski79]

We all have the right to defend ourselves, yet sometimes one must ask the question of when an escalation benefits someone else more. Especially someone i don't want to benefit. Just my 5 cents...

[@brianwright9514]

"And that Iranian pilot was surprised to say that least I tried to take it back, But by then it was too late And a million angry arabs started headed for... Israel?!"

[@huntingsynth]

US has planes in Jordan/Saudi

[@maexmaestermann471]

Thank you for pronouncing "Iran" correctly.

[@adriencervera4011]

TU 22 was just shot down and there's a video of it.

[@Waltham1892]

The Tu-22 is more of a Russian B-47. The Tu-160 is the analog of the B-1.

[@DollyRanch]

It may have been shot down but it's not conclusive. The video shows a flat spin and a trail of flames but otherwise no indication of the cause

[@LSmoney215]

@@DollyRanchUkraine said he was shot down. I believe that cus Russia always lying

[@robertr3470]

Ukraine is getting good at doing Russian conversions. They are turning cruisers into submarines and bombers into helicopters.

[@deanwilliams433]

@@DollyRanch those are ancient and have had accidents almost every year in the last 7 years

[@surfman88]

There’s rumors about some emp weapon that was used to take out some

[@justanotheroglesby2847]

That and the new laser.

[@918guy]

wonder if they loiter or just shut down if their comm signal gets jammed

[@myplane150]

"Merry Christmas".... LMFAO. Now we know which side of the fence you guys are on...🤣 I wonder how many 'Aces' were created that night according to the media?

[@LoneWolf051]

Merry 4th of Thanksgiving

[@andyl5134]

That whole mission for western fighters seems like an Ace Combat mission, just without god mode and 50 missiles onboard. 😅

[@jaysonpida5379]

The intel from inside Iran, passed to the west, must have been very instructive in spilling how the attack was going to play out.

[@ikashibimauler]

I was worried about FF given all the assets up in the air and all the missiles flying around.

[@sj6986]

Curious what does it cost to shoot down these drones? It all nice and good while enemy launches tens or even a few hundred drones. What when they attack with thousands of them? I think Iran has been working on cheap swarming vehicles both in air and sea because they figured out a long time ago that there is no way they can compete on sophistication or lethality of their weapons. But a swarm of cheap boats or drones could overwhelm a carrier or significant land base.

[@mracer8]

Since the flying time from Iran to Israel on those drones take hours, I would think a fighter with gun can easily take it down since they are tracking them for hr and hundres of miles! btw, when you say thousands of them, you are thinking about the size of consumer dji drone which fly a few miles and 15 minutes, this kind of attack drone that fly for hundres of miles I assume be the size of a car and there won't be thousand of them!

[@rupertbe]

@@mracer8they aren’t very big!

[@RayHardman7567]

Little off topic, but could you take a look at the f16 takeoff from a movie called turbulent skies? Pretty sure you're not going to like it.

[@fredbyoutubing]

Question : maybe a wild idea but would it be cost efficient to get modern versions of WW2 style fighter planes to take down drones specifically? Would they be safe to use guns at those speeds?

[@CWLemoine]

And with what sensors would those WWII fighters find the drones/missiles in the first place?

[@fredbyoutubing]

@@CWLemoine I don't know, the F-35's transfering data? You tell me, I'm the one asking dumb questions 😅. I meant modernized versions of these type of planes, not specifically WW2 models. Just slower cheaper airplanes with the means of destroying slow moving targets. Could even be drones acting as drone killers. I was half kidding because at some point we'll have to find cost effective solutions to drone swarms. I'm sure everyone is taking notes on how the west deals with them. Anyway thanks for the reply. Keep up the work.

[@RedFail1-1]

​@@fredbyoutubing"cost effective" there are systems that can disable drones out to a considerable distance for $6,000-16,000. Not that expensive to protect HVT. Even civilians can buy these devices if they want to.

[@jamesholden5664]

​@@CWLemoine Radar and thermal. He did say modern versions of WW2 style fighters. They actually had on board radar in WW2 night fighters to target enemies in the dark. I watched a special about it last night. I new there was as ground based radar in WW2 but I didn't know about onboard radar in fighters. It was a real thing.

[@jamesholden5664]

​@fredbyoutubing most of us knew what you meant because that's what you said. Look at the AT6 Beachcraft light attack aircraft or the Super Tacano both are modern light prop driven attack aircraft.

[@artyombeilis9075]

Jordanian princess indeed servers in air force but not participated in specific shutdowns.

[@bks252]

Ok, you get 2 thumbs up for the Christmas comment.

[@doomey22a]

I think it’s pretty clear that this was a mix of scenario one and three. The Iranians telegraphed their strike well in advance of impact time (most estimates have there being three hours between launch, announcement, and impact), and the majority of what was launched was drones and cruise missiles rather than ballistic weapons. It allows them to tell their supporters that they successfully retaliated but without any real risk of causing real damage and escalation. That being said,I wouldn’t be surprised if they were probing defences. The big difference is cost. The Iranian drones are cheap. I’ve seen some estimates if their strike costing only about 50 million usd, verses the several hundred million it cost to defend against the strike.

[@jmorrison5206]

Comparisons of cost to both sides taking GDP and defense budget… Iran lost.

[@artyombeilis9075]

F-35 is probably useful for detection, but using AMRAAM to kill drones isn't very good. Short range missiles and withing visual range is kinda still rules. I've heard Israeli F-35s used canons but not real confirmation.

[@dombivi]

You two guys must have splinters sitting on the fence ..

[@CWLemoine]

What fence?

[@f0rumrr]

bring in the growlers

[@user-lq3ss9xf8c]

This attack was basically the size of Pearl Harbor attack. Think about it

[@alallen694]

It’s hard to believe guns weren’t involved when attacking a slow moving, unarmed flying object.

[@adozer6848]

Mudhens for life!

[@thomasosborn5823]

I thought the F-16 was the Fighting Falcon officially but Viper was a nick name pilots gave it. a lot of the aircraft books i have all refer to it as the Fighting Falcon.

[@CWLemoine]

No one who flew it calls it that.

[@JackofNothingess]

Even internationally they call it Viper. Greece, Japan, etc call it that.

[@thomasosborn5823]

@@CWLemoine I was just wondering if, was it early models were the Fighting Falcon then later blocks were Vipers? or has it always been the Viper to the pilots.

[@stellarsnow1212]

It’s because Fighting Falcon pilots are embarrassed to be called Fighting Falcons

[@CWLemoine]

Nope. Always been the Viper.

[@artyombeilis9075]

They are for sure using guns at least in IAF. In the videos published by IDF there is saying "I recommend using (SSSSSS)ns" in Hebrew + some videos of hits without missile trails...

[@CWLemoine]

An AIM-9 doesn't have a missile trail.

[@artyombeilis9075]

@@CWLemoine trails are visible in IDF videos in IR spectrum very well.

[@emadabuelrub1125]

They forget f 35A

[@johnh1353]

it was probably just USA and Israel (informed by Jordan as a diplo proxy for iran)... the UK gov. needed a shout-out to look politically strong, they probably just launched a fighter to get a headline ...

[@charlesmaurer6214]

Jordan princess goes drone hunting, now other arab states will be fighting over a bride that can help defend the husband's country...

[@NASWOG]

The Biden comment 😂😂😂

[@raptorsean1464]

That's only 97.7%. 😂

[@jmorrison5206]

Glad I wasn’t the only one questioning the DoD competency in doing arithmetic.

[@jeffplana440]

Raptors only come out for Chinese weather balloons.Don't get it twisted

[@MrBarbuster]

why do you telegraph?= baiting

[@CWLemoine]

What?

[@TymaDem]

Unless you receive a desired political reaction from other states, the cake ain’t worth the candle. In this case, I don’t think iran gained a desired political outcome other than something for domestic consumption

[@dermick]

@@TymaDem Perhaps they wanted to launch a huge attack, but didn't want it actually succeed. As Gonky said "dog and pony show."

[@rbrtck]

​@@dermick That's a pretty huge attack, though. I think they were hoping it would succeed to some degree anyway, and were probably surprised and taken aback at little (almost nothing) it did.

[@Phillip-up3ip]

Government 😮Government 😮Government 😮🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@frankbieser]

As I understand it, the little girl that got hurt, was from being in a mass of people heading to fallout shelters. She wasn't hurt directly by the attack. There was a some damage at an Israeli base, but that was it.

[@vl3005]

She was hit by a shrapnel that cut through the ceiling of their hut (yeah, the Bedouins live in temporary housings because they keep moving). She's still in critical condition, but we're all praying.

[@frankbieser]

@@vl3005 Thanks for update, what I heard was from a few hours after the attack.

[@titaniummechanism3214]

2:25 "Joe Biden then called them and said Thank you, Good Job" "Towards the end of the conversation he tried to order a Pizza"

[@frankleespeaking9519]

If Trump were president he would have called them losers for joining the military then called Putin to ask how much longer till he’s in Kiev…..

[@titaniummechanism3214]

@@frankleespeaking9519 ...and congratuled him on his successful special operation ;)

[@klephenthurry3284]

What concerns me is the cost differential. Iran drones $20-50k each American Patriots $4mil each. American Figher jets : pay the pilot, the fuel, the munitions, USA can afford it, but why overpay to protect another country when we can be putting that money to better use at home helping out the homeless american born citizens many of them veterans?

[@AdamosDad]

It's X Elon is not a twit 🐦

[@dragonmares59110]

If it cost a 10M$ jet to fly to shoot a 150k$ missile against a 1k$ drone i say it was worth it even if the attack was a failure. Sadly they can pump thousands of drones by the time one jet is built. At one point scale of cheap drones and smart munition are going to completly level cities with defense being quite hard. It will get even worse when terrorists will start using them too. Get a van, carry a few dozens drones, let open the drone, let the drone with AI fly to a city and pick random civilian target...this is going to be a nightmare.

[@paulliebenberg1886]

raptor nerds lol

[@jmorrison5206]

The fact that a high-ranking Iranian general was ensconced in Syria to begin with… Israel didn’t start it.

[@Desi365]

And who opened the borders of Iraq and Syria to the Iranian IRGC , please ??

[@No-turbo]

We need to quit fighting other peoples wars.

[@indy500tabasco8]

👽👽👽👽🌎👽👽👽👽

[@dermick]

These drones are not that fast and don't shoot back. I guess they are not very stealthy. Flying mainly in a straight line. No awareness of being hunted. Probably had ads-b out. 😂 I'm guessing if the fighters got some AWACS help, they could easily shoot down 10 each in the time that it took for these drones to get from Iran to Israel.

[@mracer8]

The video jet jockey in this channel for whatever reason like to get us to think we need to use million dollar missile in order to being down 200mph car size drone flying a straight path over open airspace for 2 hrs before entering Israel! I don't know what their agenda is! but this is just not the case!

[@DNModels]

And that answers what protected invincible Israel. If US steps down from the conflict there will be quite a spectacle in the Middle East.

[@shannonsloan7246]

Sometimes it’s painful, listening to gonky fumble.

[@nick4819]

WWIII....? Lmao as if Iran could start WWIII...

[@mmabagain]

I’m sure Brandon didn’t even remember a war was going on much less order anything.

[@Nesher44]

Gonky's lack of ability to call sides cause he understand the Saudis who support "Palestinians" is mind boggling... what about Al-Qaeda, any stance on them? 🤦‍♂🤦‍♂

[@b.chuchlucious5471]

Well, that's what they're telling us, anyway. Since we can't see it, they can say whatever they want.

[@drewjames8594]

Gonky impersonating Biden was spot on as this is something our dementia riddled leader would in fact say in mid April.

[@vincentvalerio915]

Raptors only come out to shoot down hot air balloons hahaha

[@rbrtck]

Do you think those balloons were easier to target and shoot down than these drones?

[@unclerojelio6320]

Is Gonky in favor of aid to Ukraine?

[@mrrednick81]

Are you not or do you live Russia

[@jrnmller1551]

Why would the US and allies defend Israel, and not defend Ukraine, it does not make any sense!!!

[@SpamSucker]

USA has a long-standing partnership with Israel, including (per State Dept) multiple signed bilateral defense cooperation agreements from 1952 onwards. Whereas with Ukraine, there was no such signed agreement until 2021, well after we’d started providing a number of lethal armaments. So I’m not saying we shouldn’t help Ukraine, but one could be forgiven for thinking that an old friend vs an old adversary may elicit different treatment.

[@deanwilliams433]

I can't believe this is a real question.

[@BencerCourt123]

Most US politicians are bought by aipac donation

[@jmorrison5206]

After USSR dissolution in 1991, Ukraine became the third largest nuclear power in the world and held about one third of the former Soviet nuclear weapons, delivery system, and significant knowledge of its design and production. In 1994, Ukraine agreed to transfer these weapons to Russia and became a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, in exchange for “assurances” from Russia, the United States and United Kingdom to respect the Ukrainian independence and sovereignty in the existing borders. USA, UK, Russia, perhaps others, agree to defend Ukrainian sovereignty as a condition for nuclear disarmament.

[@deanwilliams433]

@@jmorrison5206 Ukraine was not able to use those nukes as the launch codes were in Russia. They also did not have the facilities to maintain them or replace them.

[@jonathannoah1831]

Please Mover keep your content non-biased.

[@CWLemoine]

This is not a news channel (as if they would ever be unbiased, but I digress). Everything here is our opinions, thoughts, and views on whatever topic we're discussing. Of course we're going to be biased by our experience, knowledge, and such. There's no such thing as "non-biased" content.

[@mahmoudelkholy8719]

This show is biased towards Israel. It is what it is unfortunately.

[@RW-zn8vy]

@@mahmoudelkholy8719why would anyone back a terrorist regime like Iran? They don’t even believe in women’s rights

[@cristi99zz]

@@mahmoudelkholy8719 well you didn't watch it every time that is for sure. mover, gonky(lived in saudi arabia, saw a lot of bad things) and wombat have expressed their sadness with civilian casualties. many times when they discuss attacks on civilian infrastructure they always said that they feel bad for the civilians that die because they are unfortunately caught in these attacks.

[@DNModels]

@@CWLemoine That is an honest answer. Any logical person should agree. That does not change the fact that UK and US intervened in a war started by a desperate leader with history of similar deeds.

[@sunnyrobinson2128]

F-16 are trash 🗑️

[@CWLemoine]

What do you fly?

[@user-ie1hg5ov1m]

Israel doesn't need our help

[@davidtennien39]

Thanks for not making us to watch Demented Joe.

[@SpamSucker]

Don’t forget balloons… raptors only come out for SU-57s and balloons 🎈