US Pilot Claims To Have Been Attacked By a "Drone Swarm"

Via CNN:

A US fighter jet pilot rescued by special forces after being shot down over Iran in April described a shocking sight before ejecting from his aircraft: multiple Iranian drones hovering in the air, moving as one, in a formation that resembled a jellyfish, according to four sources familiar with the matter.

The account, which has not been previously reported, was shared by the F-15 pilot with intelligence officials during a debriefing after the incident. It immediately set off a firestorm of debate within the US intelligence community that has yet to be resolved.

If the airman really saw what he described — a formation moving in unison — it would be an alarming advance in Iranian drone capabilities.

“Multiple drones interconnected and moving as one with smaller drones below the bigger drones like legs,” one of the sources familiar with the pilot’s witness account told CNN. “Real alien sh*t.”

Another source told CNN the pilot described witnessing a “minefield of drones” in the air.

While the exact cause of the F-15 downing is still being investigated, initial reports indicated that it was possible the drone formation had in some way enabled Iran to shoot down the American jet, according to two of the sources.

The F-15 carried a crew of two — a pilot and a weapons system officer. US forces immediately launched search and rescue efforts, CNN previously reported.

The downing of the F-15 fighter jet marked the first time a US aircraft has been shot down over Iran during the conflict.

The pilot was rescued hours after ejecting from the aircraft, while the weapons systems officer evaded Iranian capture in the mountains for more than a day before also being rescued. It is not clear if the weapons systems officer also saw the drone formation.

A second aircraft, an A-10, was downed during the rescue effort but that pilot managed to eject safely outside of Iranian airspace.

 So, in Star Trek parlance, this supposedly happened:

Two things to note; (1) the intelligence community is...skeptical of the pilot's account ("he was concussed," "he's be downed before," "a mirage in the desert") and (2) if true, this would be an example of mesh network drone technology, which is a thing.