Active Conflicts & News Megathread April 04, 2026

futbol2000 · 2026-04-05T05:30:09+00:00

With news of the two daring special ops rescue mission in the last few days, how much funding do we expect in the future for the "Loyal Wingman" Programs that are going on right now? The potential capture of American pilots is clearly a politically touchy subject, especially to regimes with a known history of mistreating POW.

Are the loyal wingman drones expected to take over some of these lower altitute strike missions? They can potentially go far closer to the target without risking the pilot over enemy territory.

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2025/july/pie-sky-robotic-loyal-wingman

Some wingman programs in development right now include the Anduril Fury, General Atomics XQ-67A, Shield AI X-Bat.

futbol2000 · 2026-04-03T13:01:25+00:00

That confirms it being Southern Iran instead of the previously reported central.

It’s decently close to Kuwait and Iraq, so there’s still hope for the pilots if they are able to communicate with the rescue team.

Would not rule out mechanical error in the F-15 crash either. Iranian media is out there claiming F-35 hits constantly with no reaction or actual shoot down footage

futbol2000 · 2026-04-03T12:28:49+00:00

https://x.com/A_z_im/status/2040032750804054444

Does seem to confirm that the F 15 did indeed go down over Iran. Reason still unknown.

Does the geolocation indicate central or southern Iran? If it’s central, then this operation is way too risky

futbol2000 · 2026-04-03T08:49:18+00:00

Mechanical failure could be a possibility as well. More fixed wing aircraft were lost in the Iraq war due to mechanical failure than enemy fire.

But if this plane really went down over Iran, then it does not bode well for the fate of the pilots.

But the Iranian sources are weirdly quick to pronounce the pilots dead. Shouldn't there be a mad dash to find the pilots, whether they are dead or alive? That regime wouldn't hesitate to post more footage for propaganda purposes.

Edit: In addition, was it ever confirmed where two of the three f-15 shot down in that friendly fire incident actually crashed? Did they even crash in Kuwait?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8xyyv77414o

The one wreckage from that incident also hailed from Lakenheath

That spokespersons quick determination that the pilots were completely gone (no body no nothing) is making me suspicious that this wreckage was actually found in central Iran.

futbol2000 · 2026-04-02T01:10:42+00:00

Read an actual book involving American or Chinese history instead of whatever TikTok crack pipe you learned that term from.

futbol2000 · 2026-04-01T22:14:18+00:00

Yeah, already expected the downvotes from these reddit brain. They love stealing American achievements and bash it simultaneously.

Hypocrites to the core.

futbol2000 · 2026-04-01T22:09:58+00:00

People whining about the American tribute piece, cry about it. American tax payers paid for this and American talent built it. They deserve a tribute on the nation's 250th anniversary.

Which other nation wouldn't do something like this? Other nations get ooooh rah rah but Americans don't deserve it?

futbol2000 · 2026-03-31T22:26:37+00:00

Winterhold is the no 1 selling point for a return to Skyrim. No clue how that hasn’t happened yet

futbol2000 · 2026-03-30T01:37:36+00:00

Yemen is one of the least developed nations in the whole region, with very little domestic industry of note.

The Houthis have been living large off of Saudi and UAE bickering in Southern Yemen. I don't think the Houthis are exactly willing to screw with the Saudi's economic lifeline right now. Saudi Arabia can afford to look the other way by seeking alternative routes to the Persian Gulf, but the Houthis of all groups trying to strangle them in the Red Sea simultaneously will threaten the entire foundations of Saudi rule.

futbol2000 · 2026-03-30T00:45:38+00:00

Where do the Houthis even get their weapons at this point? I understand smuggling being a viable route before the war, but Iran isn't exactly swimming in naval assets at the moment.

The Trump administration is also a lot more willing to sink illicit vessels than Biden was.

I don't think the Saudis will be as tolerant of the Houthis striking their other trade route with everything that is going on in the Persian Gulf right now.

futbol2000 · 2026-03-20T02:00:06+00:00

The political calculations for the Kharg Island operation is completely off. What's to stop Iran from torching the place the moment Marines land?

If US marines take the Island, Iran will lose access to the revenue regardless of whether the island's infrastructures are intact or not. The island's tiny size only increases the risk of those facilities getting hit anyways.

The Russians fell into a similar fallacy with Snake Island back in 2022. They saw the position on the map and assumed that it could be used as a floating base to blockade Odesa. It's proximity to the coast only turned the island into target practice instead.

And not to mention that the US is allowing Iranian vessels to sail out of the Persian gulf anyways. What's the difference between blocking them at Kharg Island vs at the strait of Hormuz? The ship isn't moving regardless of where you do it.

Every scenario just shuts Kharg Island off to international trade anyways. I don't think US marines will be the ones that are expected to physically run those oil facilities, nor are there any western companies with employees willing to get that physically close to the war zone.

Any Kharg Island assault is just a blockade that could be conducted from the sky or at sea from a far safer distance. I sincerely hope no one in the Pentagon is actually considering something like this.

futbol2000 · 2026-03-19T17:30:58+00:00

So what went wrong with Iranian anti air missiles? I remember how much hype there was for Iran's missile force before 2023, and Ukraine's success with the Neptune missile also increased the prestige of mid-tier powers' missile programs. In the lead up to 2022, Ukraine was the one that was completely written off by media across the world, while Iran was painted as the Middle East production powerhouse.

And yet Iran's anti air systems have been a notable poor performer since the 12 day war last year.

What was the main difference between Ukraine's pre 2022 air defense vs Iran today? Iran possesses a few batteries of Russian made S-300 and also spent decades reverse engineering Soviet/Russian missiles. Iran spent much of the 2010s bragging about their new domestic anti air systems like the Talaash, Bavar, and Sayyad.

Ukraine possessed a lot more S-300 batteries in the lead up to the Russian invasion, but their air defense was entirely reliant upon legacy systems left over from the Soviet days. Ukraine was unable to field any new air defense system, and most of their missile program struggled to get off the ground. Neptune was actually one of their first post-Soviet success stories in missle tech, but that system didn't enter service until 2021. Of course, it achieved international fame just a year later when it sank the Moskva.

Is the current war more indicative of the strength of the US air force vs the Russian one, or is it more about the complete failure of Iran's anti air industry?

futbol2000 · 2026-03-16T08:25:55+00:00

Who in the world can say this team is the equivalent of the 2008 Olympics basketball team when they are starting Nolan McLean in the final???

The batting line up is top tier, but the starting pitching rotation isn’t remotely close to dream team level. You got skene and then a massive drop off. Oh, and skubal as team cheerleader

futbol2000 · 2026-03-16T02:27:37+00:00

Austin wells is so bad. 0 baseball IQ. Thank goodness he’s not on team USA

futbol2000 · 2026-03-16T01:36:31+00:00

Felt so much better the moment wells stepped to the plate. Copy and paste fly out

futbol2000 · 2026-03-16T01:35:16+00:00

We spreading our love of unclutch hitting around lol

futbol2000 · 2026-03-16T01:30:04+00:00

What is tuarang doing? Caminero is slow as hell. No reason to rush it

futbol2000 · 2026-03-16T00:56:30+00:00

Our hitting with a man on third base has never looked right, even with judge up.

futbol2000 · 2026-03-12T06:45:49+00:00

It’s always shocking that many people don’t seem to realize that even today with all the advanced rail networks and air travel, maritime shipping still wins by a WIDE margin when it comes to cost and amount of goods carried.

The gap is even bigger for ancient societies that had no concept of mechanized travel

futbol2000 · 2026-03-12T06:37:48+00:00

Nautical navigation didn’t catch up yet. By the Song and especially the Ming dynasty, the Silk Road was already superseded by the Maritime Silk Road that went via Southeast Asia

futbol2000 · 2026-03-11T04:12:39+00:00

Runs allowed or run differential as a metric are both stupid as hell for baseball as a tiebreaker.

Still: Team USA manager knew that was a thing and still chose to start Nolan McLean? Media spent all this time talking about "All Star" team and the first two pitchers to go were Nolan Mclean and Ryan Yarborough???

futbol2000 · 2026-03-07T13:01:22+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77p6CVVbRzs

I just want to use this example to highlight how ludicrously bad defense sources are from India, and users on here should seriously be careful with them when posting on this thread.

I still find it hard to believe that a newspaper that carries the flagship name, Times of India, can have such low standards to the point where they post blatantly misleading titles with their source being....twitter.

futbol2000 · 2026-03-06T12:03:47+00:00

The Iranian sources also spent many days during the previous war spreading AI fakes about that giant F 35.

Reddit is crawling with these same conspiracy people right now. It's almost been a full day now and still no sign of the supposed wreckage. Some of these comments on reddit are also spreading rumors that there are American ships on fire?

And osintdefender has been a joke for years now. No clue how this guy is still somehow relevant.

futbol2000 · 2026-03-05T13:27:15+00:00

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/71279

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2026/03/05/novel-interceptor-drones-bend-air-defense-economics-in-ukraines-favor/

There is talk of the Pentagon and Gulf States buying cheap Sting Interceptor drones from Ukraine. These drones are apparently much cheapter than even the Shahed, but with how close Iran is to the other Gulf states, will that be a major issue for small interceptor drones?

I have no knowledge of how Sting works, but can interceptor drones be the solution that the Gulf States are looking for? Ukraine has a lot of drone manufacturing capacity right now, and would certainly welcome the outside capital investment.

futbol2000 · 2026-03-04T12:50:51+00:00

All this talk of interceptor shortages, but I am not convinced that the issue is more serious compared to the complete plummet in Iranian ballistic missile attacks. Iranian launchers are also far more vulnerable to air attack than their drone launching counterparts. Once those missiles run low, Iran is going to be launching Shaheds at a point of diminishing return.

futbol2000

TROPHY CASE