larry johnson doesn't buy the 'friendly fire' took down our planes story; 

 

At the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Iran destroyed the AN/FPS-132 radar (also referred to as FPS-132 or AN/FPS-132 Block 5 Upgraded Early Warning Radar/UEWR). This is a US Air Force-operated, long-range early warning radar designed for ballistic missile detection and tracking. It provides wide-area surveillance, with a reported detection range of up to 5,000 km (about 3,100 miles) for missile launches. This was used during the June 2025 12-day war to detect and track Iranian missiles headed to Israel.

Iran also destroyed the large air‑search radar dome in Bahrain, which is located at the Naval Support Activity Bahrain / US Navy Fifth Fleet HQ. This kind of radar is used for wide‑area air and surface surveillance and for feeding air picture to Patriot/THAAD and fleet ops. The destruction of this unit significantly reduces the capability of the deployed air defense systems to detect and track in-bound threats. The destruction of these two radar systems will improve Iran’s ability to hit targets in Israel.

Iran also appears to have downed three F-15 combat aircraft. US Central Command insists that the planes were downed by friendly fire, but that is nonsense. The official US military report admits that Iranian aircraft had been engaging them at a time when “air superiority” was allegedly long established. Those planes carried IFF (i.e., Identification Friend or Foe), which is basically an encrypted “question and answer” radio system that lets radars and other aircraft positively recognize it as friendly. Before flight, ground crew or aircrew load crypto keys (for secure modes like Mode 4/5) into the IFF using a fill device, and set required mission codes. In flight, when the fighter appears on someone’s radar, that radar or airborne interrogator sends a coded challenge. The jet’s transponder:............more..........