The fog of war: just speculating here, but with so many attack drones flying around – combined with high stress environments – an untrained radar operator could mistake a fighter jet (or in this case, three jets) flying a similar profile (similar speed, altitude, perhaps even descending towards the base…for landing, as opposed to a kamikaze drone attack) for a threatening drone.

There are different ways to identify aircraft from random blips on the radar scope, but obviously something got missed here. This wasn’t the first time, but hopefully the last. Glad to hear that all 6 crewmembers survived.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2026/03/02/3-f-15s-shot-down-by-kuwait-in-friendly-fire-incident-pilots-safe-us-says/

militarytimes.com

3 F-15s shot down by Kuwait in friendly fire incident, pilots safe, US says

"Kuwait has acknowledged this incident," according to U.S. Central Command. All six crew members have been recovered and are in stable condition.