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The United States military lost two MC-130J Commando II special mission planes and four MH-6 Little Bird light helicopters during the recent daring operation to rescue the weapons system officer of the F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet that got shot down by Iran on April 3, ABC News reported.
The F-15E — belonging to the U.S. Air Force’s 48th Fighter Wing based at RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom — crashed in the province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad in the southwest of the Islamic Republic.
The pilot was extracted within the first 24 hours. An A-10 Thunderbolt II attack jet was shot down while taking part in the first rescue operation. It crashed in Kuwait with its pilot ejecting safely. There were also reports that two UH-60 Black Hawk and HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters were damaged in the same mission.
The U.S. military carried out a more complex rescue operation to extract the weapons system officer, with President Donald Trump hailing the mission on April 5 as “one of the “most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History” and writing in a social media post, “WE GOT HIM!”
He said on Truth Social the rescued crew member sustained injuries “but he will be just fine,” adding he is “SAFE and SOUND!”
Later on the same day, Trump acknowledged that the recovered weapons system officer, a colonel, was “seriously wounded.”
Two MC-130J planes that were part of the rescue mission became stuck at a location inside of Iran during the operation, two U.S. officials told ABC News.
The officials claimed that U.S. forces deliberately destroyed the disabled the planes so they would not fall into Iranian hands.
Four MH-6s helicopters used in the mission were also intentionally destroyed by U.S. forces, according to one of the officials, who told the news channel that the helicopters had been used to ferry U.S. military personnel from the landing strip, where the MC-130J’s had landed, to the mountainous area where the weapons system officer was located.
As a result, three additional replacement aircraft had to be flown into Iran to take the airman and the rescue teams out of the country, both officials said.
Contrary to reports by ABC News and other American outlets, footage released by Iranian media indicates that at least some of the aircraft may have come under fire. Holes caused by shrapnel or bullets were noted in several parts of the wreckage.
A single MC-130J could cost well over $100 million, while an MH-6 could cost over $7 million, depending on the variant. This means that the U.S. military lost around a quarter of a billion just in the second operation to rescue the weapon systems officer.
The downing of the F-15E highlighted the challenges facing the American-Israeli war on Iran, which began more than a month ago.
A single aerial loss crippled military plans for several days, put hundreds of American troops at risk, and eventually resulted in hundreds of millions worth in losses. If this happens again, it will become much harder for the Trump administration to justify the war, especially considering that Israel has not yet taken such losses.
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one word to describe this debacle: clusterfuck
what about the dead us soldier found in the wreckage?