US fighter pilot shot down over Iran says 'alien' drones in 'jellyfish formation' swarmed him before crash

By CHASE HOPE, POLITICAL REPORTER FOR THE DAILY MAIL Published: 16:24, 23 June 2026 | Updated: 16:27, 23 June 2026 The US F-15 pilot shot down by Iran in April has a very strange supernatural story about his flight. Before safely ejecting, he claims he saw a cluster of Iranian drones moving in sync, maintaining a jellyfish-like shape. 'Multiple drones interconnected and moving as one with smaller drones below the bigger drones like legs,' a source told CNN of the pilot's account. 'Real alien s***.' The pilot was extracted from a remote, mountainous region of Iran after a dramatic rescue operation. He hiked a reported 70 miles over 36 hours in Iranian territory before being rescued.  It was an all-hands-on-deck operation that employed 155 aircraft - including 64 fighter jets, 48 refueling tankers, 13 rescue aircraft, and three helicopters.  There is no consensus within the intelligence community on how the F-15 was shot down. Officials were unsure how to evaluate the pilot's report, as a concussion sustained in the crash may have affected his recollection. Shockingly, the April incident was the second time this pilot was shot down during the Iran war, CNN also reported.  He was one of the pilots downed by Kuwaiti friendly fire at the beginning of March. A United States Air Force F-15 Strike Eagle fighter jet during a training exercise Iranian state media shared footage of the planes left behind during the US rescue operation in March Your browser does not support iframes. After the CIA located the pilot and began feeding the Iranians false information that the pilot had been rescued, US special forces made a rescue. The rescue party was forced to leave behind multiple aircraft, destroying them before flying to safety.  A group of drones moving in formation, as the pilot reportedly saw, is called 'one-to-many meshed networking,' which can allow one operator to guide multiple drones at once. Russia and China are believed to have this capability, but Iran was not previously assessed as having the technology to achieve meshed networking.  Trump lauded 'a breathtaking show of skill and precision, lethality and force' as US forces swooped into mountainous terrain in southern Iran to rescue the weapons systems officer (WSO) whose F-15E fighter jet went down on Good Friday.  'He scaled cliff faces, bleeding rather profusely, contacted his platoon, treated his own wounds and contacted American forces,' Trump said of the still unidentified officer, who was rescued on Easter Sunday. Donald Trump lauded the operation to rescue two downed US service members in Iran over the weekend. 'God was watching us,' he said of the miraculous operation An F-15 airman was rescued in a daring mission after the fighter jet was shot down by Iranian forces Trump admitted that there were military officers who were opposed to the operation which he said risked hundreds of lives. 'God was watching us,' the President said. The President noted how the weapons officer was able to activate a 'beeper' that showed US forces where to search for him, leading to the airman's rescue and likely saving the soldier's life. 'It was like finding a needle in a haystack,' Trump said.  The pilot's strange sighting comes as President Donald Trump's administration has made it a top priority to declassify troves of data on alleged UFO sightings. One such sighting in 2023 involved a glowing orb that passed in and out of sight several times, appearing to spawn smaller orbs. A video released in May appears to show a US fighter jet destroying a UFO with an air-to-air missile in Michigan.  Friday morning, April 3. Near the village of Talkhuncheh, Isfahan Province, Iran. A F-15 E Strike Eagle is apparently hit by Iranian fire. Tehran said it is deploying new anti-aircraft weapons and there are suspicions an advanced passive infrared detection system was used to guide a missile. Both pilot and weapons systems officer eject. Weapons systems officer, a lieutenant colonel, is injured during the ejection and becomes separated from the pilot. US special forces HH-60W Jolly Green 2 helicopters fly in and come under fire from Iranians. They rescue the pilot but are unable to reach the other crewman. Two helicopters are hit and the crew are injured but they are able to escape Iranian airspace. An A-10 Warthog was also hit by fire and later crashed in the Strait of Hormuz. An MC-130J refuelling aircraft is filmed fuelling two helicopters over the crash site. Iranians are also filmed firing at one rescue helicopter. The Weapons Systems Officer starts hiking away from the wreck site and evades detection by Iranian Forces. Armed with just a hand gun and injured but mobile, the senior officer headed for higher ground. The experienced colonel used his SERE training (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape), an escape doctrine drilled into every American combat aircrew. He activated his emergency beacon and lay low, waiting for an unlikely rescue. Although he could use his emergency beacon to contact rescuers, it also risked giving his location away to the enemy. American forces hunt for the officer, while he hiked at least 20 kilometres and climbed 7,000 feet up a mountain. He is eventually located by the CIA, although it is unclear how. The CIA starts a deception operation to convince Iranians that the officer has already been rescued. MQ-9 Reaper Drones watch over the officer and attack any Iranians who get within 3 kilometres of his location. Two drones were shot down and they attacked mulitple Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps search parties. Iranian media offers a $60,000 reward for the capture of the officer. US special forces launch a second rescue mission with commandos from the elite SEAL Team 6, also known as DEVGRU and land at a desert airstrip near the town of Mahyar. The Navy Seals fly in four MH-6 Little Birds and rescue the officer from the mountain top, before returning to the desert airstrip. The two C-130 aircraft got stuck in the dirt at the desert landing strip, forcing the US to deploy three new Dash-8 rescue aircrafts. The commandos blow up the two stuck aircraft and at least one helicopter, to deny them to the enemy, before making their escape. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.