Missing US air crew only had handgun to protect himself while hiding in Iran

The missing U.S. weapons systems officer, who was rescued from Iran after the fighter jet he was in got shot down, only had a handgun on him to defend himself, U.S. officials revealed.

Reuters reported that the air crew held the rank of colonel and sprained his ankle.

He was wounded and taken to Kuwait for treatment.

What he did after landing on the ground

According to reports in U.S. media, after the air crew ejected and landed on the ground, he hid himself in a mountain crevice.

He then turned on his encrypted tracking beacon, but restricted its use, as the fear was that the signal could be picked up by Iran.

The airman would have received training for a situation like this, media reports stated, and it would have involved turning his beacon signal on, getting to high ground, concealing himself, and establishing communications.

He then reportedly waited for his rescuers to arrive.

CIA located him

The CIA played a crucial role in the rescue operation, it was also reported.

The intelligence agency tracked the airman's exact location and informed the Pentagon.

CIA spread rumour in Iran aircrew found

While that happened, the CIA concurrently ran a deception campaign.

They did so by spreading word inside Iran that U.S. forces had already found the second airman.

To prevent the Iranians from getting to the missing air crew, bombs and weapons fire were used to keep Iranian troops away.

The U.S. also jammed electronics in Iran.

All this while, U.S. President Donald Trump had to remain uncharacteristically silent over the progress of the rescue.

Trump was so relatively quiet that a local reporter went to check if he was at Walter Reed Hospital, Reuters reported.

U.S. authorities have not disclosed any information about the found airman's identity or the exact location where he was rescued.

Iran claimed rescue aircraft attacked

The U.S. military's rescue of its missing crew member in dramatic fashion was hailed by Trump as a show of America's continued air superiority and military might, and framed as evidence of the country's exceptionalism.

However, Iran's military said two U.S. C-130 military transport planes and two Black Hawk helicopters were destroyed during the operation.

Moreover, "a deception and escape mission at an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan…was completely foiled", the Iranians added.

U.S. provided a version of events

The U.S., on the other hand, framed the aircraft losses as stemming from malfunctions.

The highly complex operation, at one point, saw aircraft meant to extract the crew stop functioning, the U.S. said, and resulted in elite forces waiting for hours to extract themselves from behind enemy lines.

U.S. media reported what apparently happened: Two transport planes that were intended to fly out rescue crews were unable to take off from a remote base inside Iran.

These were then destroyed to keep them out of enemy hands.

Special forces then flew out on three extra aircraft to collect those in the mission.

U.S. media reported that the plan involved dozens of special forces, as well as warplanes and helicopters.

General Frank McKenzie, a former commander of U.S. Central Command, told CBS that "we did in fact lose a couple of aircraft in that mission", but added that they would take the loss "any day" in a situation like this.

"It takes a year to build an aircraft - it takes 200 years to build a military tradition where you don't leave anybody behind," he told the "Face The Nation" programme.

Background

A U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle jet was shot down over southern Iran on Friday, Apr. 3.

The plane was carrying a weapons systems officer and a pilot.

It was the first time in more than 20 years that a U.S. fighter jet was shot down by enemy fire.

The two military personnel were ejected from the aircraft.

The pilot was rescued the same day, but the second crew member remained missing for the next few days.

He was found on Apr. 5.

Top photos via X & Unsplash