A wounded American airman, armed only with a handgun and trapped deep behind enemy lines, had only minutes to spare when brutal Iranian terrorists moved in.
US Special Forces were tasked with carrying out one of the most challenging rescue missions History To save their man as he escaped 48 hours of relentless pursuit.
After ejecting from a £60m heavy F-15 over south-western Iran, the officer – a senior colonel who served as a weapons systems officer – found himself alone and drifting helplessly over grueling mountainous terrain.
With a damaged leg and approaching enemy forces, he pushed himself up a 7,000-foot mountain peak and eventually trapped himself in a narrow crevice.
Meanwhile, motivated by the offer of a £50,000 reward for his capture, local tribesmen, armed with AK-47s, were already clearing the hills.
The footage shows groups of men waving Iranian flags and scouring the rugged terrain in search of the slain American.
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Based on his Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) training, the victimized colonel was able to navigate the unknown landscape and remove himself from sight for a sufficient period of time.
Speaking to The Sun, former British Royal Air Force assault helicopter pilot and security expert Mickey Kay said: “It was a race For time and literally every second counts.
“As time goes on, success declines rapidly.”
Aware of the imminent danger the aircrew was in, the United States committed “a significant amount” of military capacity to the daring extraction.
“The idea of a weapons system operator getting into the hands of the Iranians was clearly on the Pentagon’s mind,” Kay says.
Among the dozens of aircraft deployed for the rescue operation were two AC-130s, MH-6 “Minibird” attack helicopters, A-10 Warthogs specially designed for close air support and an MQ-4 Reaper tracking overhead.
A series of Special Forces teams on HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopters flew in for confirmation Target The location, which also includes commandos from Navy SEAL Team 6, the famous unit that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
“They have been given all this capability because they know the Iranian threat is diminishing,” Kay explains.
“You have a large number of loyal people on the ground trying to capture this airman.
“And the IRGC will flood this area with all kinds of things.
“They have radar vehicles, dogsDrones, surface-to-air missile systems and troops that will likely carry man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS).
“Iranian forces advanced within approximately two miles of the downed weapons system operator.
“You can cover two miles in 60 seconds in a helicopter.”
Iranian forces tightened up as CIA spread disinformation Campaign To buy precious time for stranded airmen.
Rumors spread through local networks that the pilot had already been captured and flown out of the area in a ground convoy.
This tactic, known as “unconventional aided recovery”, is intended to misdirect search teams and break up a coordinated search operation.
At the same time, agents worked tirelessly to locate the colonel’s exact location, but his location became difficult due to the uncertain condition of the wounded airman.
“The weapon system operator went for height, but he got stuck in a ravine,” says Kay.
“When you’re putting beacons in that ravine, their range will decrease rapidly.”
But fortunately, the CIA has a specific ability to geolocate operators out of beacons, and as the rescue window was narrow they were able to relay the coordinates back to command.
But once their position was finally confirmed, the mission turned into a full-scale combat rescue under fire.
The jets and gunships cleared a corridor through the mountains, beware of Iranian fighters wielding handheld aircraft destroyers.
“MANPADS can be an absolute nightmare for aviation resources trying to locate a dead airman,” says Kay.
As the helicopters swept down, they were able to land briefly and rescue a group of commandos.
He then confirmed WSO’s identity, a process that probably included at least one question based on information in his Separate Personnel Report (ISOPREP) that only he would know the answer to.
The documentation kept by the intelligence section of his unit included photographs, fingerprints and personal information and was forwarded to the people coordinating his rescue to allow that final ID to be executed.
Once this was confirmed he was lifted into a helicopter and flown to Kuwait for medical treatment.
But in a final, heart-stopping twist, two transport planes taking part in the operation got stuck in sand at a remote airport in Iran.
Three other aircraft had to be scrambled to rescue the crew and Special Forces troops destroyed the stranded aircraft to prevent sensitive information from falling into Iranian hands.
