Initial reports indicate that the pilot of a U.S. F-15 fighter aircraft, reportedly downed over Iran, has been rescued. If confirmed, this would represent the latest instance in the extensive history of U.S. combat search-and-rescue missions spanning decades.
According to CBS, the BBC’s U.S. partner, a search operation is currently underway deep within Iran to locate a second crew member.
Combat search and rescue (CSAR) missions are widely recognized as among the most intricate and time-critical operations for which U.S. and allied militaries prepare.
In the U.S., specialized units within the Air Force receive extensive training for CSAR missions and are frequently proactively deployed near conflict zones where aircraft losses are possible.
In essence, CSAR missions are military endeavors focused on locating, providing aid to, and potentially rescuing personnel in distress, including downed pilots and isolated troops.
Unlike conventional search-and-rescue operations, which may occur during humanitarian efforts or following disasters, CSAR missions are conducted in hostile or contested environments.
In certain instances, such as the reported recovery effort in Iran on Friday, these operations may take place deep within enemy territory.
CSAR missions frequently involve helicopters, supported by refuelling aircraft and other military aircraft providing strike capabilities and area patrol.
A former commander of a pararescue jumpers squadron informed CBS News that a rescue operation similar to the one reported in Iran would necessitate at least 24 pararescue jumpers searching the area in Black Hawk helicopters.
The commander added that the team would be prepared to parachute from aircraft if necessary, and their priority upon reaching the ground would be to establish contact with the missing crew member.
According to CBS News, upon locating the crew member, the pararescue jumpers would provide medical assistance if needed, evade enemy forces, and reach a location suitable for rescue.
“Harrowing and massively dangerous is an understatement,” the former commander told CBS News.
The commander further noted: “This is what they train to do, all over the world. They are known as the Swiss Army knives of the Air Force.”
Verified video footage emerging from Iran on Friday appeared to depict U.S. military helicopters and at least one refuelling aircraft operating over Iran’s Khuzestan province.
These missions are highly time-sensitive, as enemy forces would likely be deployed in the same area to locate the same U.S. personnel that the CSAR teams are attempting to rescue.
Former U.S. Marine Corps Special Operations specialist Jonathan Hackett told the BBC’s World Tonight program that a rescue team’s priority would be to seek signs of life.
“They’re trying to work backwards from the last point they knew that person was, and fan out based on the speed that person could move under different circumstances in this really difficult terrain,” Hackett said.
Hackett suggested that this type of reported rescue would be a “non-standard assisted recovery mission,” where indigenous groups in the area may have been previously contacted to establish contingency plans that could be activated to aid in potential rescues.
Airborne, wartime rescue missions have a long history, dating back to World War One pilots who conducted impromptu landings in France to rescue downed colleagues.
The U.S. military’s pararescue units trace their origins to a 1943 mission in which two combat surgeons parachuted into then-Burma – now Myanmar – to assist wounded soldiers.
According to Smithsonian’s Air & Space Magazine, the world’s first helicopter rescue occurred a year later, when a U.S. lieutenant rescued four soldiers from behind Japanese lines. This incident also marked the first operational use of a helicopter in combat.
Formal search-and-rescue units were initially established in the U.S. in the immediate aftermath of the conflict. However, modern CSAR began during the Vietnam War.
One mission, known as Bat 21, resulted in the loss of several aircraft and numerous U.S. casualties while attempting to recover the pilot of an aircraft shot down behind North Vietnamese lines.
The war necessitated a significant expansion of CSAR missions, with increased scope and complexity. This experience aided the military in refining tactics and procedures that have served as the foundation for rescue operations ever since.
While each U.S. military branch possesses its own limited CSAR capabilities, the U.S. Air Force holds primary responsibility for locating and rescuing military personnel.
This task is primarily carried out by pararescue jumpers, who are part of the military’s broader special-operations community.
The official pararescue motto is “These Things We Do, That Others May Live,” and their work is regarded as part of a broader commitment to U.S. service members that they will not be left behind.
These personnel are highly trained as both combatants and paramedics, and they undergo what is widely considered one of the most demanding selection and training pipelines in the U.S. military.
The selection-and-training process, which typically takes approximately two years from start to finish, includes parachute and dive training, as well as basic underwater demolition, survival, resistance and escape training, and a full civilian paramedic course.
They also receive specialized instruction in battlefield medicine, complex recovery operations, and weapons.
On the ground, these teams are led by specialized Combat Rescue Officers, who are responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing recovery missions.
Pararescue teams were extensively deployed throughout the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, conducting thousands of missions to rescue U.S. and allied troops who were wounded or required extraction.
In 2005, Air Force pararescue teams were involved in the recovery of a U.S. Navy SEAL who was wounded and seeking shelter in an Afghan village after his team was ambushed and its other three members killed – an incident later dramatized in the film *Lone Survivor*.
Missions to recover downed U.S. pilots have been infrequent in recent decades.
In 1999, the pilot of an F-117 stealth fighter shot down over Serbia was located and rescued by pararescuemen.
In a highly publicized incident in Bosnia in 1995, U.S. pilot Scott O’Grady was rescued in a joint Air Force and Marine Corps CSAR mission after being shot down and evading capture for six days.
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A separate search and rescue operation also encountered hostile fire, leading to the downing of another aircraft over the Persian Gulf.
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