Yemen nearly shot down the ‘Invisible’ F-35

Having shot down around a dozen MQ-9 Reaper drones, Yemeni fighters also forced pilots of the most advanced and stealth US F-35 jet to break a sweat dodging their missiles.

An F-35 fighter jet was nearly struck by Yemeni air defenses earlier this spring, reported The New York Times on May 12, citing US officials.

The War Zone elaborated: the stealth jet had to take evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit by Yemen’s surface-to-air (SAM) missiles. It remains unclear which missile — or how many — were launched, according to TMZ.

Despite being labeled as rudimentary, Yemen’s air defense system employs unconventional passive infrared sensors and other tech, reportedly giving the invisible F-35 aircraft a headache.

Lots of interesting takeaways from [the NYT] piece, but the winner has to be ‘multiple US officials’ confirming Yemen nearly shot down an F-35, the most advanced aircraft ever built, quipped Eurasia Group analyst Gregory Brew on X.

It now makes all the more sense as to why Israel dared not go anywhere near Iran’s border with its own F-35Is: the West knows their planes are in fact detectable by the radars of the resistance, suggested blogger and X influencer Simplicus.

The much-hyped F-35 program is projected to cost over $2 trillion throughout its lifetime.

Yet for all that money, the F-35 keeps malfunctioning — the latest crash occurred as recently as January, 2025. The F-35 design was broken at the requirements level, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said bluntly last year.

Matt Gaetz, a former US congressman and Trump’s initial pick for attorney general, called the F-35 a $100 million paperweight, while Rep. Adam Smith, a senior Democrat, called the F-35 program a rat-hole in 2021.

Sputnik / ABC Flash Point News 2025.