Iranian Missiles Wrecked a US A-10’s Wing and Damaged About Eight F-15Es at a Base in Jordan

An Iranian ballistic missile attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in eastern Jordan damaged about nine US Air Force jets overnight from September 8 to 9, 2026. One A-10 Thunderbolt II lost a wing and about eight F-15s took light damage, a US official told Reuters on September 10.

No American personnel were killed. The damage was first reported by CBS News, citing people with direct knowledge, and the damaged F-15s have since been returned to service.

What happened at Muwaffaq Salti

The barrage came hours after US Central Command said its forces had destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers on September 8. CENTCOM said that strike followed two attempts by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to hit a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles over the previous two days.

Jordan’s armed forces said on September 9 that 20 ballistic missiles had been fired toward the country. Its air defenses destroyed 18, and the other two fell in unpopulated areas, according to the statement as relayed by AeroTime. Jordan reported no casualties.

US forces fired more than 30 Patriot interceptors during the attack, CBS reported. Air & Space Forces Magazine described the A-10’s wing as severely damaged and identified the other jets as F-15E Strike Eagles.

The IRGC claimed it hit maintenance and deployment sites for F-35, F-16 and F-15 aircraft. Neither government has released imagery to back its version, and CENTCOM did not respond to requests for comment on the damage.

Why these losses land harder than the numbers suggest

Muwaffaq Salti, near Azraq, is a Royal Jordanian Air Force base where the US Air Force’s 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing operates. It has been one of the main hubs for Operation Epic Fury, the US air campaign against Iran, hosting F-15Es, F-16s, A-10s, F-22s and F-35s, according to The Aviationist.

It is also a repeat target. Iran has fired on the base several times since the war began in February, and three US Army soldiers were killed in an attack there in July, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported.

Satellite imagery reviewed by The Aviationist shows most aircraft on the base parked in open areas, outside protective shelters, with the rest under sunshades. Sunshades keep the heat off a jet but offer no protection from a missile.

The A-10 is the hardest of the damaged jets to replace. The Air Force said in April it will keep 54 Warthogs in three squadrons through 2029, falling to 36 in 2030, and every airframe matters in a fighter fleet already below the minimum Congress requires.

Wing damage is a particular problem for this type. The Ogden depot at Hill Air Force Base in Utah had handled A-10 structural repairs and wing replacements since 1998, and it held the closing ceremony for that mission on February 12, 2026, with its workforce moving to the F-35, F-16 and C-130.

The F-15E Strike Eagles came off better, but the wider tally keeps climbing. Through May, 42 US military aircraft had been lost or damaged in the war, according to a Congressional Research Service report cited by Reuters, and 18 US service members have been killed since February.

The interceptor bill

The defense also carried a cost that is harder to see. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated in late July that the US Patriot inventory had fallen from about 2,330 interceptors before the war to between 759 and 827, figures Stars and Stripes also reported.

More than 30 fired in a single night is roughly 4 percent of that estimated remaining stock. The CSIS figures also predate the strikes of late August and September, so the real count is likely lower still.

The night shows the bind air base defense is in. Jordan says its defenses stopped 18 of 20 missiles, yet about nine jets were still damaged on the ground. Each night of interceptions also draws down a stockpile that CSIS analysts warn may force the US and its partners to take more risks with interceptions.