A US Air Force F-15E fighter crashed during a routine training mission in the Middle East, but investigators have ruled out insurgent activity as a cause, the military said.
Both crew members ejected safely. The Air Force said that the crash happened in southwest Asia on Wednesday, a broad term that includes the Persian Gulf region. A statement said rescuers made their way to the scene of the crash, and the cause of the accident was being investigated.
"We can say that it was not due to any hostile fire or insurgent activity," said Air Force spokesman Maj James Bressendorff. The F-15 entered service in the 1970s. The Air Force got its first F-15E Strike Eagle version of the fighter in 1988.