Elite US military rescue units race Iran’s armed nomads to find airman
James Rothwell And Akhtar Makoii
Berlin/London: When U.S. air force sailor Iceal Hambleton was shot down over Vietnam more than half a century ago, hopes for a quick rescue were quickly dashed.
The air force encountered some of the fiercest anti-aircraft fire of the entire war during a series of failed rescue operations; this cost the lives of 11 airmen and the loss of five aircraft.
Lieutenant Colonel Hambleton, who escaped capture by hiding in a hole he dug in the forest, was rescued only 11 days later before he fell into the clutches of the North Vietnamese.
As tribesmen scour southern Iran for a second airman from the U.S. F-15 fighter jet that was shot down on Friday, the unnamed crew member may be wondering if he, too, is at the beginning of a similar ordeal.
Trapped in the arid lands of Khuzestan province, the weapons systems officer may be locked in a battle of minds with the Iranian regime, which is desperately trying to capture him before American rescuers find him.
Experts say Tehran is in a race against the US air force’s respected combat search and rescue (CSAR) unit, which has the best chance of survival.
The CSAR section will attempt to fly to the airman’s hideout, bundle him or winch him into a helicopter, and then escape Iran without being shot down themselves.
But this will not be easy, and if the operation does not go as planned, as in the Hambleton incident in Vietnam, the only hope left may be a larger-scale ground attack.
“The United States Air Force has specialized units, types of aircraft and helicopters, and very well-trained crews for these types of operations. [but] “It’s very, very dangerous and high risk,” said Justin Bronk, a military expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a British security think tank.
“They have to respond immediately when an aircrew crashes, so if the crash happens during the day, they can’t go in at night and pick the optimal window. And of course, they have to look at a lot of the risks from things like ground fire and manned portable air defense systems.”
An important element of improving a downed airman’s chances of survival is evasion training, which extends the time rescuers spend collecting a crew member, said Dmytro Zhmailo, an expert at the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation.
“[Our Ukrainian Air Force] Pilots are required to complete a survival course and receive a briefing on the enemy’s location and the location of friendly forces before takeoff. “In case there is a problem or the plane is lost, the crew’s duty is to retreat to a safe distance and transmit a special signal via satellite,” he said.
Elite forces managed to capture the pilot of the F-15 with a similar operation on Friday. It is unknown why it took longer to rescue the jet’s second airman, and as time passes, the likelihood of reaching him before the Iranians weaken becomes greater.
On Saturday morning (Washington time) it was reported that US special forces were operating in Iran; this was a sign that Washington was stepping up its effort to find the airman. But starting on Saturday, gangs of armed Iranian nomads began searching for the airman themselves, hoping to win a £50,000 ($95,000) reward from the regime.
According to Fattah Mohammadi, deputy governor of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, two Black Hawk helicopters supported by a military refueling plane fled the area during a rescue attempt after encountering resistance from Bakhtiari tribesmen and rural residents who opened fire with hunting rifles.
Video clips circulating on Iranian social media show civilians in traditional dress firing at low-flying aircraft in mountain valleys. In one of the clips, a young girl could be heard pointing her rifle into the air and shouting “Shoot, daddy, shoot” at her father.
The mobilization draws on Iran’s southwestern tribal populations, particularly the Bakhtiari people living in areas covering Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Khuzestan, and parts of Isfahan province.
There is also a landscape that this stranded airman must overcome on his own: the Zagros mountain range, a 1,600-kilometer-long natural stronghold with peaks over 4,300 meters, narrow valleys and countless caves. It also has many secret routes that are well known to local people, which gives nomads an advantage.
Experts say such a rescue mission would likely need 24 “pararescue” officers and two Black Hawk helicopters supported by aerial refueling planes to expand its reach over Iran.
U.S. pararescue officers receive training in medical response, evacuation, skydiving physiology, and additional skills to survive in chemical or nuclear environments.
When they find a casualty, they may need to provide him with medical treatment to ensure he survives the journey to safety.
“Sad and extremely dangerous is an understatement,” a former pararescue commander told CBS News.
But there is some hope if the United States wants to follow the example of the operation that saved Hambleton in 1972.
After all these failed air rescue operations, the United States changed tactics and launched a ground operation relying on Navy SEALs and South Vietnamese commandos.
In one of the most daring rescue operations in U.S. military history, elite forces managed to track down Hambleton and extract him while disguised as a Vietnamese fisherman.
For his sake, we can only hope that the CSAR special forces team reportedly sent to Khuzestan has prepared a plan to rival this ingenuity.
Telegraph, London
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