When the F-22 Flew Under Iranian Phantom Fighters Undetected and “Sent Them Home”

By Maya Carlin

U.S. military airframes are notoriously robust and in general are considered superior. Yet even among their ranks, one fighter jet stands out. Since its introduction to service, the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor has dominated the skies as the world’s first fifth-generation fighter.

The fighter showed its superiority in 2013, when a Raptor pilot flew undetected under a pair of Iranian-flown Phantom fighter jets. This incident ended with a famous one-liner by the pilot: “You really oughta go home.”

F-22: The Story

It all started with a U.S.-flagged MQ-1 Predator drone. In 2012, a pair of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Su-25 Frogfoot fighters detected the American-made drone flying over international waters, roughly 16 miles off the coast of Iran. 

Predator UAVs are used mostly for reconnaissance and pose no threat to aircraft. Pegging the harmless unmanned aerial vehicle as an easy target, the Iranian fighters fired on the unaccompanied drone with their onboard guns. After firing nearly 250 pounds of munitions and failing to take out the drone, the two Su-25 pilots eventually retreated.

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Following this incident, the U.S. military altered its MQ-1 strategy. Instead of sending the UAVs through international airspace alone, fighter jets would escort the drones. As detailed by Sandboxx News, the service often sent “F/A-18 Super Hornets off of the nearby USS John C. Stennis, but occasionally used F-22 Raptors operating out of bases in the United Arab Emirates.”