At 04:40 on Friday (Tehran time), the alarm goes off: hit by a portable surface-to-air missile, an F15E fighter plane, codenamed Dude 44, is damaged and its two crew members eject over enemy territory.
The US military is immediately mobilized to go find them, no matter what the cost.
The two soldiers land in different places, in an arid and mountainous region of southwestern Iran. At first, only one of the aviators is located.
A first search operation is launched: 21 aircraft take off to recover the soldier, designated by his code name Dude 44 Alpha.
A10 planes, specialized in ground attacks, lead the way, attacking the Iranians who are also searching for this aviator, the Chief of Staff of the US Army, General Dan Caine, detailed in a press conference alongside President Donald Trump.
Behind them, and as some videos broadcast on social networks have shown, HH60 helicopters fly at very low altitude and in broad daylight, supplied by a tanker plane.
These forces manage to recover Dude 44 Alpha.
But, General Caine acknowledged, one of the A10s is hit by Iranian gunfire.
“The pilot continued fighting” before deciding “that he could not land his device,” so he ejected outside of Iranian territory and was rescued without problems.
During the return journey of this first team, on Friday, the helicopters were the target of light weapons fire, one of the devices was hit and its crew was slightly injured, said the chief of the General Staff.
“Frankly stuck”
Meanwhile, the second ejected airman, code name Dude 44 Bravo“put into practice what he had learned and climbed into the mountainous areas,” while “bleeding profusely,” to avoid being captured by the Iranians, Donald Trump said.
Hidden in a rock crevice, “he treated his wounds himself and contacted US forces to transmit his location,” the US president added.
Using “human resources and cutting-edge technologies that no other intelligence service in the world possesses,” the CIA located and identified him, said its director, John Ratcliffe.
From there, Washington launches an “air armada” to rescue him: 155 aircraft, including 4 bombers, 64 combat aircraft, 48 tanker aircraft, 13 rescue aircraft and drones.
But a good part of those aircraft served as decoys, Donald Trump said.
“We wanted (the Iranians) to believe he was somewhere else,” the president explained.
There were no American deaths.
None of the American officials gave details about the exact development of the commando operation that allowed the aviator to be recovered.
What they did admit is that several aircraft, “frankly stuck,” according to Trump, were unable to take off again. “Faster and lighter” planes then had to be sent to take Iran out of Dude 44 Bravo.
Upon leaving, “we blew up the stuck planes” to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Iranians, the president said.
Tehran confirmed that two Black Hawk helicopters and two C130 military transport aircraft had been destroyed; Images show remains geolocated about 50 kilometers south of the city of Isfahan.
“At midnight on Easter Sunday, Washington time, more than 50 hours after the start of this operation, the Rescue Center declared that the two Dude 44 airmen had returned to friendly territory,” concluded General Dan Caine.
There were no deaths on the American side.
Five Iranians died during the operation, according to the Tasnim press agency.
