Iran and the United States are in a race against time this Saturday, April 4, to track down the pilot of an American plane shot down by the Iranian defense.
Iran and the United States are engaged this Saturday, April 4, in a race to find one of the two occupants of the first American plane to crash on Iranian territory since the beginning of the war, now in its sixth week.
This crash in the southwest of the Islamic Republic is a serious setback for Washington, which boasts since the start of the war on February 28 that no American soldier has been killed or captured on Iranian soil. However, 13 have died in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.
The United States conducts searches
This aircraft, an F-15E, was destroyed by an anti-aircraft defense system of the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological Iranian army, said a spokesperson for the US Armed Forces.
“Additional searches are underway,” he said. The New York Times and the Washington Post claim to have authenticated photos and videos circulating on social networks and in Iranian media, showing helicopters and American planes flying at low altitude over the area.
“They will do everything they can”
Houston Cantwell, a former US Air Force pilot, told AFP that in similar operations, special forces are always on high alert to rescue pilots in enemy territory.
“It provides immense peace of mind to know that they will do everything they can to come get you,” he said, adding, “at the same time, they will not embark on a suicide mission.”
According to him, the priority for a pilot in this situation is to “hide” and find the best possible place to wait for extraction, such as a clearing or the roof of a building.
Specialists in these operations
A veteran who has carried out similar evacuation missions, Aaron MacLean, explained to CBS News that the teams responsible for recovering the aviator “operate with different means in these specific circumstances.”
He described them as “an extraordinary group of special operators, who come to the rescue of pilots who themselves have received extensive training in survival, evasion, and resistance against potential captors.”
MacLean added that the crew member has a GPS tracker, a beacon, and an encrypted radio that allows him to evade enemy forces while signaling his presence to potential rescuers.
Iran wants to capture the aviator
The state television antenna in this southwest region of Iran aired images presented as those of the wreckage.
The governor of the Iranian province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad stated that “anyone who captures the crew would be highly praised,” according to the semi-official Iranian news agency ISNA, cited by Al-Jazeera.
Multiple planes hit, according to Iran
The Iranian army claimed to have shot down on Friday an F-15E fighter-bomber. One of the two aviators ejected in flight and was extracted during a raid by special forces.
The Iranian army also claimed to have hit another American plane, an A-10 Thunderbolt II close air support aircraft, which then crashed in the Gulf. The New York Times had previously reported the crash of an American plane near the Strait of Hormuz, adding that its sole pilot was rescued safe and sound.
In an interview with NBC, he assured that this changes “nothing at all” in the holding of potential negotiations with Tehran to find a way out of this conflict, which is shaking the global economy.
