The harrowing race against time to find downed US airman in Iran

Two crew members ejected from the fighter plane seconds after it was hit by Iranian fire. The F-15E Strike Eagle, the first fighter jet lost to enemy fire in the war, crashed violently to the ground.

The Air Force officers were deep in enemy territory Friday morning, alone and armed only with pistols. Military officials said the plane’s pilot was in “constant communication” with his unit and was rescued about six hours later under heavy fire by a force of attack planes and helicopters.

However, the aircraft’s weapon systems manager was missing. In the chaos of the launch – a violent, life-saving maneuver – he was separated from the pilot, setting off a massive search that became the main focus of US military units and CIA officers for two days.

This account of the weapons officer’s fight for survival and rescue is based on interviews with nearly a dozen current and former military and administrative officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive operation.

A military official briefed on the rescue said surveillance planes and drones scoured the area near where the plane crashed but could not find the weapons officer or any signs that he was alive.

The military described him as “his status is unknown,” the official said.

The mission of the fallen officer in Iran consisted of two words: escape and survive. Surrounded by potential enemies, he climbed a 2,100-foot hill and wedged himself into a crevasse where he hoped he would be safe until U.S. forces found him, U.S. military officials said.

US Central Command was preparing a statement that the plane crashed and the pilot was rescued.

But just as they were about to release the statement (about 14 hours after the fighter jet was shot down), US officials locked down the weapons officer’s location using a sign he was carrying. Air Force fighter pilots and weapons officers are equipped with beacons and secure communication devices to coordinate with their rescuers. But military officials said they were trained not to constantly signal their position and to restrict the use of beacons that could be detected by the enemy.

Central Command officials immediately canceled the statement they were preparing to release. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called President Donald Trump and told him they should keep information about the pilot’s rescue secret as long as they had a chance of finding the weapons officer.

Iran had launched multiple search parties; one of them was gathered at the foot of the mountain where the weapons officer was hiding. For the Iranians, the downed Air Force colonel was a powerful asset they could use as leverage in risky negotiations with the United States.

For the US military, which lived by the motto “No one left behind”, finding the fallen officer was a moral obligation.

The weapons officer, who was hit by the impact of the launch, waited. He knew that both US and Iranian forces were racing to find him.

A military official described the weapons officer’s signaling as intermittent. The military’s first task was to make sure that the signalman was a weapons officer and not someone who found his equipment in Iran.

At its campus in Langley, Virginia, the CIA was developing a deception plan to buy off U.S. military and airmen for a period of time. They spread the news that the airman was found in Iran and was being taken out of the country by land convoy. The hope was that the Iranians would shift their search from where the airman was thought to be and instead focus on routes outside the area.

The CIA operation appeared to cause confusion among Iranian forces searching for the airman, according to a senior administration official.

But the Iranians have intensified their search, calling on the public through the state’s main broadcaster to capture “the enemy’s pilot or pilots” and hand them over alive to security forces for a reward.

HEBy Saturday morning, Trump was stepping up his threats against Iran, promising to blow up the country’s electrical infrastructure unless Iranian leaders opened the Strait of Hormuz to all traffic. “Time is running out; 48 hours until all hell breaks loose,” Trump wrote on social media.

At the time, U.S. military officials were in the final stages of preparing a large and complex rescue mission involving nearly 100 Special Operations forces led by elements of SEAL Team 6, with Delta Force commandos and Army Rangers on standby if needed. A much larger conventional force consisting of helicopters, surveillance planes, fighter jets and air tankers was ready to provide support.

A U.S. military official said it took hours to locate the weapons officer and determine that it was him. Military officials were assisted by the CIA, which used special agency-specific technology to locate and verify the identity of the airman hiding in the mountain crevice. U.S. and Israeli officials gathered intelligence to determine whether the airman was alone, surrounded by the Iranians, or captured.

After determining that the airman was alone, senior military officials waited until dark to launch the rescue mission. Special Operations helicopters filled with commandos raced towards the remote mountainous area where he waited.

A senior US official described the rescue mission as one of the most challenging and complex missions in US Special Operations history. The commandos had to deal with the mountainous terrain, the Iranian forces they thought would attack them, and the health condition of the injured airmen; This too remains unclear.

As the commandos descended on the target, US and Israeli warplanes dropped bombs whose bright orange explosions illuminated the silhouettes of the surrounding mountains. The commandos fired their weapons violently to prevent the Iranians in the area from advancing towards them.

However, they did not engage in conflict with enemy forces. US officials stated that the area where the airman was hiding was strongly opposed to the Iranian regime and said it was unclear how close Iranian forces had moved to the area.

He was loaded into a helicopter that took him to a sandy, difficult airstrip inside Iran that Special Operations forces had previously developed for possible rescues or other emergencies.

The plan was to immediately load the airman and the rescue force onto two C-130 planes and transport them to an airport in Kuwait, out of harm’s way. But in a final twist, the nose gear of at least one, or possibly both, of those planes became stuck in the sandy soil on the runway, military officials said.

Hours passed. Efforts to free the stuck wheels were unsuccessful, so the commandos called in three backup planes.

Officials at the Pentagon and Central Command waited anxiously. The success of a dangerous mission that seemed almost complete was once again thrown into uncertainty.

Eventually the commandos and the injured weapons system operator were reloaded onto three newly arrived replacement aircraft. After the rescue team left, American warplanes bombed the two crippled planes rather than letting them fall into Iranian hands.

As the sun rose, three planes took off one after the other from the distant runway. The plane carrying the rescued airman left first, followed by the others.

When news reached the White House that the plane had cleared Iranian airspace, Trump announced the success of the mission.

“WE GOT IT!” Trump posted on social media minutes after midnight in Washington. he shouted. “This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Persia, hunted by our enemies who were closing in with each passing hour.”

Trump wrote that the rescued officer was “sustained injuries” but “will be okay.”

All the commandos were safe and accounted for. There were no losses in the USA.

Warning: This article contains strong language

On Easter Sunday morning, the moment of celebration seemed to pass quickly for Trump, as he returned to the reality of an unpopular war from which he appeared to have no clear exit strategy. The airman was safe, but the Strait of Hormuz was still under Iranian control, endangering as much as 20 percent of the world’s oil supply and the global economy.

Trump had tried to bully America’s allies in Europe and Asia to come to his aid, but his pleas were ignored.

So he threatened Iran’s leaders with an angry and disrespectful social media message.

Trump said, “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day and Bridge Day in Iran, all in one. This will not happen!!!” he wrote. “Open the damn Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’re going to live in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to God. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

This article was first published on: New York Times.

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