Houthis claim shooting down of Saudi fighter in first combat loss for Advanced Eagle

Houthi militants pose with the wreckage of a Saudi Arabian combat aircraft shot down on 16 September 2026. (Ansar Allah)

The Iranian-backed Ansar Allah group, known as the Houthis, claimed the shooting down of a Saudi Arabian combat aircraft on 16 September 2026, releasing a video that confirmed the first combat loss of an Advanced Eagle variant of the F-15.

Video of the crash site posted by the group showed militants examining wreckage of the downed jet, which was identifiable as being a Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) aircraft by the national flag on the tail fin, and as being an F-15SA (Saudi Advanced – the Saudi-specific designation for the Advanced Eagle) variant of the Eagle by the apertures for the BAE Systems' Digital Electronic Warfare System/Common Missile Warning System (DEWS/CMWS) seen at the base of the fin, and which are particular to this international standard of F-15 (the RSAF also fields the F-15C/D and F-15S [Saudi], the latter of which are being modernised to F-15SA standard).

The Houthis claim to have downed the twin-seat jet over the Marib governorate using an unspecified ‘locally made' surface-to-air missile, and posted unverified targeting footage that the group said showed the Saudi aircraft being engaged and hit. The spokesman for Ansar Allah's military wing also claimed that additional RSAF F-15 and Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft that were searching for the wreckage of the aircraft were forced to retreat. He did not comment on the fate of the F-15SA's crew.

The Saudi government had not commented on the incident at the time of publication, and the status of the two crewmembers was also unknown at the time of publication.