On 6 April, US President Donald Trump and other US officials at a press conference at the White House gave details of the operation to rescue the co-pilot of the F-15E fighter jet that was shot down over Iran last Thursday, 2 April.
The search and rescue operation lasted more than a day and ended successfully – the pilot was able to be taken out of Iranian territory. Earlier, the first crew member was also rescued.
According to Trump, immediately after reports of the plane crash, the operation to rescue the pilots began. More than 20 military aircraft took to the air in the first phase of the operation. The pilot was found back on 2 April by the crew of the HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter.
The co-pilot landed at a considerable distance from his comrade after ejecting and was not immediately detected. He had to hide in a mountainous area. According to Trump, he was able to treat his own wounds and report the coordinates to the US military. More than 150 aircraft participated in the operation to rescue him. The president called the pilot’s behaviour heroic, and described the rescue operation as one of the most complex and large-scale in history.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe noted the role of intelligence officers in the operation. According to him, finding the pilot was as difficult as a grain of sand in the desert, but it was possible. In addition, CIA employees, he said, managed to baffle Iranian intelligence agencies and give them the impression that the search was going on in a different area.
CBS News, citing sources, notes that the Pentagon had several options for the operation, and in the end two MC-130s were dispatched to evacuate the pilot. On board them were MH-6 Little Bird helicopters. After the planes landed about 10 kilometres from where the pilot was located, the helicopters were able to evacuate him in 7 minutes, after which the planes returned to base.
Trump and the CIA director gave details of the pilot’s rescue in Iran