3 Days, Deep Inside Iran – Only The US Could Pull This Off

Leftist critics and pro-Iran propagandists are challenge everything about these missions and obsessing over the cost of air assets we lost, but our military just successfully completed three separate rescue operations to recover airmen whose aircraft were shot down or crashed in enemy territory.

These missions, described by President Donald Trump as some of the most daring in U.S. history, were carried out under intense enemy fire and complex conditions. And they proved that we will “leave no warrior behind.”

While most of us are focusing on the incredible, complex and daring rescue of the downed F-15E Weapon’s System Officer (WSO) or “Wizzo,” in western Iran, on Easter Sunday — and it is an amazing feat worth celebrating — we should remind everyone that this was the third and final rescue of three related rescue missions, all in three days.

It all began on April 3, Good Friday when an Air Force F-15E flying low level pop-up mission on the Isfahan nuclear site in central Iran was hit by a still surviving Iranian SAM.

Both the pilot and the Wizzo ejected safely, though the WSO was injured, and they landed far from each other. Special operations forces quickly located and extracted the pilot, without major injuries, safely from behind enemy lines within seven hours of the crash.

While performing the pilot rescue on Friday, a second U.S. aircraft, an A-10 “Warthog,” was also struck, this time by a MANPAD portable, shoulder-launched anti-air missile, during a low-level strafing run on Iranian troops with its massive 30mmm Gatlin gun.

With a damaged engine, the pilot managed to navigate the stricken plane out of immediate Iranian territory radioing a distress call and navigated back to Kuwaiti airspace before ejecting and being rescued soon after. The plane proved its resilience in continuing to fly with one engine and keeping the pilot safe.

EXCELLENT VIDEO on some of these operations:

The Pentagon and Central Command (CENTCOM) deliberately avoided releasing the anything about the rescues or mentioning that the F-15 had two crewmembers, not just a pilot, to keep the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) from rushing to capture the remaining downed flyer.

The second crew member from the F-15E ejection was missing for over 36 hours, even as a massive joint search-and-rescue mission involving Navy SEAL Team Six and Air Force Para Jumpers (PJ) special forces was launched in the rugged mountains of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province.

Rescue forces were flown in on multiple MC-130J Commando II aircraft, highly specialized variations of the venerable C-130s, and landed in an improvised abandoned airfield deep inside Iran.

They were protected by fighters and armed MQ-9 Reaper drones in the skies above (two Reapers were shot down) and the raid force brought four of their own tiny but agile Little Bird gunship helicopters on the planes for transport and air support.

They also likely brought light tactical vehicles, as well as motorcycles. Without confirmation, it’s impossible to know yet which ground vehicle they may have taken. But the two most likely options are the MRZR Special Ops All-Terrain Vehicle and the SRTV-SXV (Search and Rescue Tactical Vehicle).

The MRZRs are lightweight, agile vehicles suitable for fast assault or CSAR rescue in varied terrain, often palletized for quick unloading from a C-130.

The SRTVs are specifically used by Air Force Pararescue (PJ) teams for swift extraction missions, designed for aerial delivery via C-130.

Meanwhile, the CIA conducted a successful deception campaign spreading a rumor that the aviator had been rescued and was being exfiltrated overland by truck convoy, to distract Iranian forces while rescuers located the airman, who had climbed to a 7,000-foot ridge in the Zagros Mountains to evade capture.

In addition to their ruse, and helping locate the airman, the CIA may have contacted anti-regime civilians willing to help our downed Wizzo to have shelter, move, evade the enemy and survive, a process known as “unconventional assisted recovery.”

However, the IRGC eventually realized there was another airman missing and launched their own massive effort to capture him, scouring the area. The regime also asked locals for help finding the downed airman and offered a large reward for his capture.

U.S. forces faced a race against the IRGC and local nomadic tribesmen who were also searching the mountains for the downed airman.

As U.S. commandos converged on the downed airman, they fired their weapons to keep arriving Iranian forces away from the rescue site. This, as U.S. attack aircraft dropped bombs and Little Birds opened fire on Iranian convoys. The WSO was rescued on Sunday, April 5, while “seriously wounded” but in stable condition.

During the complex extraction of the F-15E’s second crew member, the rescue team faced significant technical and tactical hurdles:

Two MC-130J transport planes became bogged down in soft soil at the remote, rudimentary dirt airfield inside Iran and could not take off.

To prevent sensitive technology from falling into Iranian hands, U.S. forces blew up the two disabled planes, along with the “expendable” MH-6 helicopters before departing on three replacement aircraft that were flown in.

While Iran and its minions claim that two Black Hawk helicopters (more likely special ops Pave Hawks) were shot down, we have reported that they came under fire during the operation but were able to reach safe airspace.

Despite anything the critics and propagandists say, these three rapid and successful aircrew rescue missions in three days under hostile fire in enemy territory demonstrate one important thing. Only the U.S. military can and does conduct these complex operations.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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