Updated

Updated · Fox News · Sep 16

US Military Releases Video of 50-Hour F-15E Rescue in Iran, Showing 92 Troops on Ground

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Sep 16

US Military Releases Video of 50-Hour F-15E Rescue in Iran, Showing 92 Troops on Ground

Q: Why did the U.S. military deliberately destroy its own rescue helicopters in the Iranian desert?

The U.S. military destroyed its own rescue helicopters and aircraft because they had become stranded in the Iranian desert and could not be recovered safely, and commanders did not want sensitive American technology to fall into Iranian hands. After Bravo was finally reached, the extraction force ran into a new problem: the rescue aircraft that had landed on a makeshift desert strip became stuck in soft sand. That left Bravo and more than 90 U.S. personnel temporarily trapped until a separate clandestine Air Force unit could pull them out. Once the people were evacuated, the abandoned aircraft were deliberately destroyed on site. U.S. officials said this was done to protect classified or highly specialized equipment, including capabilities tied to the helicopters and other rescue platforms. Gen. Dan Caine said the military wanted to preserve its “most bespoke capabilities” so adversaries could not study them and prepare counters. Reporting tied to the newly declassified footage says the destroyed equipment included two large rescue aircraft and several smaller “Little Bird” helicopters. Some accounts put the value of two of the aircraft at about $100 million each, underscoring that the decision was not about cost but about denying Iran access to sensitive systems, configurations, and mission technology. In short, the aircraft were destroyed because they were stuck, could not be extracted under combat conditions, and posed an intelligence risk if left intact.

Q: What highly classified unit was forced to extract 90 stranded Americans deep inside hostile territory?

It was a clandestine U.S. Air Force special operations unit, but officials did not publicly identify it by name in the released accounts. The reporting and newly declassified material say that after the rescue aircraft became stuck in the desert sand, more than 90 American personnel — including the injured airman known as “Bravo” — were left stranded inside Iran. A highly classified Air Force unit was then sent in to pull them out, and U.S. forces later destroyed the disabled aircraft and helicopters to keep sensitive technology from falling into Iranian hands. Publicly available coverage from the Pentagon, CBS’s “60 Minutes,” and other follow-up reports consistently describes the force only as a “clandestine” or “highly classified” Air Force unit. No official source in the material provided names the unit outright.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 16

Newly released U.S. footage shows pararescue operators reaching the injured F-15E weapons officer on a 7,000-foot ridgeline after he spent nearly two days stranded inside Iran.
The April rescue followed the shootdown of Strike Eagle call sign Dude 44 by an Iranian shoulder-fired missile, which left the two airmen miles apart; the pilot was recovered in a little over six hours.
Video also captures helicopters searching for the airman and U.S. bombers and drones striking nearby Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces that Gen. Dan Caine said were trying to find the crew.
The second extraction put 92 U.S. service members on the ground in Iran for the first time since 1980, with 3,000 to 5,000 personnel supporting the mission overall.
After the rescue aircraft became stuck in desert sand, a clandestine Air Force unit extracted the group, completing the operation about 50 hours after the jet was shot down.