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One of two crew members of a United States Air Force fighter jet that was shot down over Iran on April 3 was located and rescued by American special forces, and the search for the second is ongoing, Axios reported, citing an Israeli official and a second source with knowledge of the situation.
The fighter jet, an F-15E Strike Eagle from the U.S. Air Force’s 48th Fighter Wing based at RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom, shot down in the province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad in the southwest of the Islamic Republic in the early morning.
Axiso confirmed in its report that both the pilot and the weapon systems officers ejected safely after being struck by Iranian fire
The U.S. military quickly launched a search and rescue operation, sending aircraft with special forces into Iranian territories.
“U.S. special forces located one of the crew members and rescued him, alive, on Iranian territory,” the American news website said in its report.
The Israeli official who spoke to Axios said that their country is “helping the U.S. with intelligence in order to locate the other crew member.”
They also revealed that Israel cancelled planned strikes in the Islamic Republic so as not to hamper the search and rescue efforts.
Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN that “President Trump has been briefed” on the situation.
Iran is also hunting for the crew of the downed jet and has asked civilians in the area to join the search, offering a reward if they’re found. Recent videos from Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad showed civilians opening fire from their personal firearms at U.S. aircraft taking part in the search and rescue operation.
The F-15E was developed to carry out long-range precision ground attacks while retaining strong air-to-air capability, with a top speed over Mach 2.5 and a large weapons payload. A single fighter jet of this type could cost upwards of $90 million.
Early on in the war on Iran, specifically on March 2, the U.S. Air Force acknowledged losing three F-15Es, all fell as a result of Kuwaiti friendly fire.
The downing of the fighter jet was a blow to the U.S. Air Force, and the ongoing search and rescue operation could lead to more American losses.
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any captured aircrew should be treated as terrorists and unlawful combatants.
do they celebrate easter in iran with fireworks ? 😂 most meaningless videos so far.
both pilots have been rescued and our a-10 warthogs have blasted, strafed, sliced and ground up lots and lots of towelhead kamel-goat facking, persian sand monkeys both military and otherwise. hehehe.
you’re butthurt aren’t you, you white racist fuck.
🇮🇷🙏💪💪💪🙏🇮🇷