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Chinese Missile Might Have Been Used to Shoot Down F-15E in Iran – U.S. Officials

FlyMarshall NewsroomBy No Comments7 Mins Read

U.S. officials said to NBC News that a Chinese shoulder-fired MANPADS missile was possibly the weapon used to shoot down the U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle over Iran.

U.S. officials are investigating the possibility that the F-15E Strike Eagle shot down over Iran could have been struck by a Chinese-made shoulder-fired Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS), NBC News reported on May 30, 2026. Unidentified officials have however not made a definitive claim, and they did not reveal details of the MANPADS’ make or when it was transferred to Iran. 

This follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s hints from April about the F-15 being hit by a Chinese MANPADS, with the Chinese Embassy in Washington at the time immediately denying “the baseless allegations.” The Embassy responded that “China has never provided weapons to any party to the conflict; the information in question is untrue,” CNN reported.

Confirmed U.S. losses to Iranian fire include the F-15E Strike Eagle in question and an A-10C Thunderbolt II. Additionally, extremely close attempts were recorded against an F-35 and an F/A-18 Super Hornet, while an E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) was destroyed on the ground and KC-135 Stratotankers were at least damaged by debris from Iranian surface fires, two of which have been photographed.

In the F-15 shoot down earlier in April, while the pilot was rescued within hours, retrieving the Weapons Systems Operator (WSO), who reportedly hid in the Zagros mountains, spurred a massive Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission. Minor hostilities continue particularly over the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and full-scale hostilities are not expected to resume, as the larger ceasefire still holds.

What the report says

NBC News quoted three unidentified officials who said the F-15 “was probably struck by a Chinese-made shoulder-launched missile” and “may” have been supported by a “long-range early-warning radar that spots stealth aircraft,” which Iran received in the “early days” of the war. The MANPADS meanwhile was about “7 feet long and weighing 40 pounds.”

Regarding the latest development, the Chinese embassy was more measured in its response to NBC News, instead of an outright denial. “China always acts prudently and responsibly on the export of military products, and exercises strict control in accordance with China’s laws and regulations on export control and due international obligations. China opposes groundless smear and ill-intentioned association,” said a statement.

A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft takes off for a mission during Operation Epic Fury, March 9, 2026. (Image Credit: U.S. Air Force courtesy photo)

Iranian air defense inventory

Iranian air defenses are relatively sophisticated, comprising a mix of domestically developed, Russian and long rumored Chinese surface-to-air missile platforms. These include the domestically developed medium- and long-range Servom Khordad, Ra’ad, Bavar-373, the Majid AD-08 optically-guided and SUV-mounted Short/Very Short-Range Air Defense (S/VSHORAD), and the unorthodox anti-aircraft loitering munitions Product 378 and Product 379.

The Product 378 and 379, as we had explained previously, use passive optical tracking while being launched from everyday civilian trucks. This allows ‘pop-up’ attacks that do not trigger the plane’s radar warning receivers and give little time for the crew to react.

Russian systems consist of the S-300PMU2, the most advanced variant of the medium-range SAM, whose delivery was confirmed by Russian arms export October 2016.

Lastly, the Chinese system often touted to have stealth-beating capabilities is the YLC-8B X-band anti-air radar, named in some of the latest reports to have been used by Iran. U.S. intelligence officials claimed earlier in April that China was “weighing whether to provide Tehran” this radar.

Reports from the U.S. media about impending arms sales from China to Iran, quoting U.S. security and defense officials, continued in May. Another Chinese system think tanks claimed in July 2025 that Iran received, following the 12-day war with Israel, is the HQ-9B long-range SAM.

China-Iran relations

Chinese and Iranian defense cooperation goes back since the 1980s, mostly involving anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles. Primarily, the cooperation consists of dual-use civilian components like electronics, circuits, semiconducts used in drones and chemicals used in missiles, rocket propellants and warheads. These are transferred in an oil-for-weapons barter arrangement, given Beijing’s massive energy needs.

These latest claims from U.S. security officials that Chinese weapons ended up in Iranian hands have not been accompanied by a formal protest from the White House, the State Department or the Department of War to China, unlike the frequent Chinese criticism of U.S. military sales to Taiwan. The contrast highlights the possible diplomatic equation at play.

The same NBC report quoted another official about the long-known oil-for-weapons Chinese arms transfers to Iran since the 1980s, that briefly stopped in 2006 after a U.N. arms embargo, while also downplaying the latest instances. “It was not significant support. There was no decisive operational impact to it,” said the official.

Capability and future

If confirmed, this would make the F-15 the second case of a Western platform being downed by a Chinese weapon. The first involved the May 2025 air skirmish between India and Pakistan, where a PL-15 beyond visual-range missile was reportedly employed on Indian fighters including the Rafale, MiG-29UPG and Su-30MKI. Iran’s air defense however lacks the integration needed to create an integrated air defense system on two counts.

One is the near-absence of an air force consisting of at least Gen. 4 fighters (if not Gen. 4.5 and Gen. 5), aerial refuellers, airborne radars and possibly ISR/SIGINT jets. These coordinate with the various ground-based air defenses and point-defense aircraft defending strategic air bases.

Secondly, a lack of fusion between the Iranian radars and its Russian and Chinese anti-air sensors can’t be expected owing to different hardware, circuits, communication protocols and possibly, the paucity of time and space with Iranian commanders to undertake the exercise.

The Iranian military however relied extensively on secondary support from Russia and China in terms of targeting information from satellites, particularly the latter’s privately-owned MizarVision optical space-based surveillance network, with near real-time imagery updates on U.S. bases in the Gulf. As The Washington Post reported earlier this month, based on new satellite images, the number of U.S. targets across the Gulf struck by Iran was far more extensive than initially reported. 


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