Trump says U.S. army has rescued airman shot down over Iran : NPR

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Alex Brandon/AP A U.S. Airforce officer whose airplane was shot down in Iran was rescued by U.S. forces early Sunday after evading seize for greater than a day in enemy territory, President Trump introduced on social media.

"The U.S. Navy despatched dozens of plane, armed with probably the most deadly weapons within the World, to retrieve him. He sustained accidents, however he might be simply nice," Trump stated on Fact Social.

The officer's F-15 fighter jet was shot down on Friday over western Iran, and Trump stated "one of the crucial daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. Historical past" was undertaken to rescue him.

Trump stated the airman was a colonel and "was behind enemy traces within the treacherous mountains of Iran."

He was one in every of two crew members who ejected when their jet was hit. The pilot was rescued shortly after the shoot down, however the colonel, a weapons officer, couldn't instantly be reached.

The U.S. army scrambled to launch an enormous rescue operation. President Trump stated in his Fact Social put up that it concerned dozens of plane.

Three of these rescue plane, which had been flying at low altitudes, had been additionally hit by Iranian fireplace, in response to a U.S. official who was not approved to talk publicly.

One was an A-10 Warthog. The pilot managed to maintain flying till he reached close by Kuwaiti airspace, the place he ejected and was rescued. Two helicopters had been hit by Iranian fireplace, however had been in a position to make it safely again to their base, the U.S. official stated.

Quite a few movies over the weekend confirmed planes and helicopters that carefully resemble American search and rescue (SAR) plane flying in southwestern Iran. NPR was in a position to geolocate one of many movies to a bridge within the province of Khuzestan. The bridge is situated in a mountainous space roughly 100 miles inland.

Trump lauded the rescues as proof "that now we have achieved overwhelming Air Dominance and Superiority over the Iranian skies," however the truth that the pilots had been shot down within the first place has brought on some analysts to query this evaluation, which Trump has made repeatedly.

The 2 fighter jets had been the primary shot down in additional than twenty years, the final being in 2003 in the course of the warfare in Iraq.

In mid-March, a U.S. F-35 plane was hit by a missile, inflicting vital injury to the airplane and injuring the pilot. NPR was advised on the time that the F-35 plane was in a position to return to its base, however the airplane made a tough touchdown.

For the reason that warfare with Iran began six weeks in the past, 13 U.S. service members have died in airstrikes and likewise an plane refueling crash in Iraq. An assault on a Saudi airbase left greater than a dozen U.S. troops wounded, a number of of them severe.