How the US unleashed overwhelming firepower to save stranded airman under enemy fire in Iran… then obliterated every weapon left behind
U.S. forces launched a daring military operation to rescue an Air Force colonel hiding in the crevices of a mountain after his plane was shot down by enemy fire.
The unidentified airman was one of two crew members flying in an F-15E Strike Eagle that was shot down in a remote area of Iran.
A pilot and a weapons systems officer were flying in an F-15E with the call sign ‘Dude 44’ when the aircraft was crashed and they were abandoned by parachute.
The pilot was rescued by two military helicopters the same day, but the airman remained missing for approximately 48 hours.
The weapon system manager had a gun only to protect himself and was seriously injured after being thrown from the F-15.
But he managed to escape the Persians by climbing 7,000 feet to the top of a mountain and hiding in a remote crevice for nearly two days.
Meanwhile, nearly 100 special operations forces and dozens of U.S. warplanes and helicopters scoured the area and fired missiles at Iranian forces that got too close. According to the Wall Street Journal.
The US military even decided to buy itself more time to find the airman by using the CIA to spread a false message that US forces had located the airman.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth briefed President Donald Trump after an F-15E Strike Eagle with the call sign ‘Dude 44’ was shot down in a remote area of Iran.
Iranian state media published images of the search and rescue plane it claimed shot down, but the US military said it “exploded” [them] themselves up
The quick-thinking pilots then pulled the ejection lever, ejecting the seats from the cockpit and deploying their parachutes as the damaged aircraft crashed into Iranian territory.
When they finally got the airman to safety, American soldiers blew up the stranded plane rather than allow the military equipment to fall into Iranian hands.
US forces eventually managed to escape and a plane flew the injured airman to Kuwait for medical treatment. There were no US casualties in the rescue operation.
The weapons systems officer was flying in the backseat when the F-15E came under fire from Iranian forces.
The quick-thinking pilots then pulled the ejection lever, ejecting the seats from the cockpit and deploying their parachutes as the damaged aircraft crashed.
Iranian state media was the first to report that the F-15E had crashed. A news anchor said the Iranian military had put a $60,000 bounty on the heads of the survivors.
The presenter said, ‘If you capture the enemy pilot or pilots alive and hand them over to the police, you will receive a valuable reward.’
Meanwhile, in Washington, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chief of Staff General Dan Caine briefed President Donald Trump on the situation.
They told him that the Pentagon was planning for such a scenario and that he could save the airman; Trump immediately accepted this plan.
Following the crash, Iranian military forces placed a $60,000 bounty on the airman’s head, leading Iranian militants to hunt him down in the mountains. (Image: Bakhtiari tribesmen in Khuzestan head into the mountains with rifles in hand, searching for missing American F-15 jet pilot)
Concerned that video footage of a US airman captured in the hands of the enemy would provide a major propaganda tool for Tehran, as Trump continued to pressure the Iranian regime to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the president reportedly said, “We must capture him.”
This marked the first time in more than 20 years that a piloted US aircraft was lost over enemy territory.
As the operation began, four B-1 bombers, part of a larger armada, dropped nearly 100 2,000-pound satellite-guided bombs, and MQ-9 Reaper drones shot down suspected fighters as they approached the airman’s hideout.
While the airmen were being evacuated, the two pilots landed far away from each other due to the speed of the jet.
Ultimately, US military officials received “beep” information about the airman’s location, but a radio message confused them and they thought the Iranians were “sending the wrong signals” and trying to trap American forces, Trump said. Axios.
According to the president, after being ejected from the plane, the airman said: ‘To God belongs the power,’ but a US defense official later confirmed that the phrase was exactly ‘God is good’.
“The words he said on the radio sounded like what a Muslim would say,” Trump continued, adding that those who knew the officer said he was a religious person.
But as the airman hid deeper into the mountain, his communications went in and out as U.S. officials tried to locate him.
A photo of the F-15E Strike Eagle shot down on Friday is seen
To do this, the U.S. military redirected aircraft in the region to assist in the mission, leaving some planned targets, including missile launch sites, undamaged and allowing Iranian forces to fire more weapons than usual.
“They were out there looking for him, soldiers were looking everywhere for him because they knew he was somewhere,” Trump told the Journal.
At first, U.S. forces encountered some difficulties trying to rescue the airman; He aborted his initial efforts after two H-6s came under fire from the ground, injuring the crews on both aircraft and requiring them to land safely in Kuwait.
Two MC-130J special operations aircraft also faced problems with their nose wheels sinking into the ground and being unable to take off; More military personnel were trapped behind enemy lines as Basij warriors approached the failed rescue sites, using helicopters and drones to find him.
As a contingency plan, three small planes carrying special teams departed for a remote staging area.
The US also decided to deploy MQ-9 Reaper drones and other aircraft to attack Iranian trackers; The CIA used its capabilities to locate the airman in a mountain crevice — what one administration official described as finding a needle in a haystack.
The agency then continued to feed US forces real-time information and even conducted a deception operation, spreading false news that the US military had located the airman and was preparing to rescue him.
A senior U.S. official told Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst that the airmen were referred to as a “precious package” that they were trying to take “out of the country by sea.”
‘The purpose of this was to remove the Iranians from the area where the US crew was located. The official added that the deception campaign was working.
Iranian media have published footage of US C-130 transport planes being completely destroyed at a remote airport in Iran following a daring raid to rescue the downed US airman.
It was reported that some of the materials were left on US C-130 transport planes
US forces then coordinated with their Israeli counterparts to share intelligence they received from the CIA to stop attacks in the region.
Israel also carried out its own attacks on the area in coordination with US forces, striking any assets that might pose a threat to evacuation efforts.
U.S. forces after airman is safe They had to ‘blow up’ two MC-130Js, which cost more than $100 million each, and two MH-6 Little Bird helicopters, which could cost up to $7.5 million.
It was a move that would likely cost the US military millions of dollars and demonstrated the urgency of evacuating US forces under extreme pressure.
On Saturday evening, Trump confirmed the airman’s safe rescue, writing on Truth Social: ‘WE GOT HIM! My fellow Americans, in the last few hours the United States Army conducted one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in US History for one of our incredible Crew Members, who is also a highly respected Colonel, and I am excited to let you know that he is now SAFE and LOUD!
‘This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, hunted by our enemies who were drawing closer with each passing hour, but he was never truly alone because his Commander-in-Chief, Minister of War, Chief of Staff and his fellow Warriors were monitoring his location 24 hours a day and carefully planning to rescue him.’
Trump further praised the operation, calling it ‘one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in US History.’
The president posted about the airman again on Sunday, praising the successful mission and announcing that he would hold a news conference about the rescue in the Oval Office with members of the U.S. military at 1 p.m. on Monday.
He added: ‘May the Almighty MILITARY PROTECT OUR WARRIORS!’
