Wryly82

Lose all this to rescue 1 pilot and call it your greatest military success of all time.

🚨 BREAKING via NYT: An Air Force officer whose fighter jet had been shot down in Iran was rescued by U.S. Special Operations forces in a risky Saturday night mission that took commandos deep into enemy territory. A senior U.S. military official described the mission to rescue the airman as one of the most challenging and complex in the history of U.S. special operations. The mission to save the crew member employed hundreds of special forces troops, dozens of U.S. warplanes, helicopters, and cyber, space and other intelligence capabilities. U.S. attack aircraft dropped bombs and opened fire on Iranian convoys to keep them away from the area where the airman was hiding. As U.S. forces converged on the downed airman, a firefight erupted, two former senior military officials briefed on the operation said. The airman was equipped with a beacon and a secure communication device for coordinating with forces mounting the rescue. A senior U.S. military official described the mission to rescue the airman as one of the most challenging and complex in the history of U.S. special operations. In a final twist after the weapons officer was rescued, two transport planes that would carry the commandos and the airmen to safety got stuck at a remote base in Iran. Commanders decided to fly in three new planes to extract all the U.S. military personnel and the airmen, and they blew up the two disabled planes rather than have them fall into Iranian hands.

2nd American F15E crew member rescued and safe after complex rescue operation that began Friday morning, two senior US officials confirm to me.

Fox News can confirm that the 2nd crew member of the downed F15E fighter jet has been rescued and he and the members of the rescue team that extracted him from behind enemy lines in Iran are all safely out of Iran. That according to two senior US officials and multiple well placed sources in the region. The Weapons Systems Officer ejected along with the pilot when their F15E Strike Eagle they were flying was struck Thursday night (early Friday local time) in southwest Iran.  The WSO used the SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) training to evade capture, hiding on an elevated ridge after hiking away from the wreckage and putting out an emergency beacon.) US Special Operations rescue forces to include PJs (United States Air Force Pararescuemen (PJs) and many layers of elite rescue forces took part in the complex, layered mission to both find the crew member and also keep the Iranian forces who were hunting the American weapons system operator at bay. There are videos that have appeared from local eyewitnesses that show what appear to have been  injured and dead Iranian members of the IRGC and Basij who were looking for the downed American crew member. Fox has learned there was fighting on the ground but no Americans killed during the operation. “It was a very complex operation to retrieve the downed service member,” a well placed source briefed on the operation told me. Many different branches of the US military were involved in the rescue. Fox News can confirm the A10 Warthog that crashed Friday was involved in providing cover for the rescue teams searching for the pilot. That A10 crashed in Kuwait (first reported by ABC Friday) but the A10 pilot managed to eject safely and was rescued. There was destruction of aircraft which have sensitive equipment on board, I am told, all part of this complex CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue) mission. The F15E was pretty much destroyed on impact. Two rescue helicopters were hit by enemy fire on  Friday and crew members onboard were injured by enemy fire but managed to make it out of Iran. There were a lot of elements to this rescue, I am told.

BREAKING: The second crew member from the downed F-15E has been recovered after a "heavy firefight", U.S. government official says. - Al Jazeera

They’ve recovered the Weapons Systems Officer. It wasn’t easy, but they got it done. Outstanding.

Tomorrow.