Following the downing of a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle the U.S. carried out a rescue operation behind Iranian lines. The operation took place over the course of two days and involved a large number of aircraft.
At this point before we go any further I’d like to say that this account of events is what I believe to have happened going off of images and videos and public statements from officials (both named and unnamed) ,to the best of my ability. It’s very likely some information was intentionally released to mislead or deceive.There are reports of the CIA being involved in the effort to persuade the Iranians that the weapons systems officer was located somewhere else than where rescue efforts were focused. For some reason after the mission was complete the CIA disclosed this information to media outlets via their public relations office. President Trump and Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff also offered up details of this operation and all of its complexities after its conclusion however this is the governments account of the events, a fact which should be taken into account when going through the information.
On April 3rd, 2026 it was reported that a US F-15E Strike Eagle from the 494th Fighter Squadron out of RAF Lakenheath had been lost somewhere over the western region of Iran. This was the first time a U.S. fighter has been lost from enemy combat since the start of the war. By the time the incident was reported, videos were being posted by locals from the area showing what appears to be CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue) units attempting to locate the two crewmen- call signs DUDE44 Bravo and DUDE44 Alpha, from the downed F-15E.
The first crewmember was rescued the day of the shootdown. At the time I personally was informed of the shootdown (About 15 minutes before the stories dropped on mainstream) I was already seeing videos of US aircraft flying low over western Iran. It was pretty clear based on the assets we were seeing that a Combat Search and Rescue operation was underway. A HC-130 Combat King II (CSAR C-130 variant), flanked by 2 HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters. These aircraft are specifically designed to go behind enemy lines and rescue downed pilots. All three can fly very low over a search area to locate downed pilots. The Combat King operates as a sort of mobile command post and surveillance platform. It’s able to refuel the helicopters and carries refueling pods on underwing pylons and additional internal fuel tanks in the cargo bay. The plane has also been modified and given the ability to receive fuel from boom equipped tankers.
The first day’s operation was, by all accounts, a success as the pilot of the Strike Eagle was rescued by one of the Pave Hawk helicopters and extracted. As the CSAR units entered Iran a number of fighters, including an A-10 and drones were “violently suppressing and engaging the enemy in a close-in gunfight to keep them away from the front seater” according to General Caine. On the way out of Iran the rescue helicopters took a significant amount of ground fire and several people were injured as well as the helicopters being damaged, however they managed to get the pilot back to safety. By this time, it appears that they knew where the Weapon Systems Officer was, however they didn’t want to risk losing a helicopter and its crew to ground fire, especially when they had been stirring up the hornets nest for several hours already. The mission had been supported by a number of other aerial units, reportedly several F-35’ and the A-10 that was mentioned above. That A-10, which was reportedly the main point of contact with DUDE44 Alpha “was hit by enemy fire,” said Caine. “This pilot continued to fight, continued the mission, and then upon exit, flew his aircraft into another country and determined that the airplane was not land-able. The pilot then made the decision to eject over friendly territory, and was quickly and safely recovered and is doing fine.” The A-10 incident likely caused alot of the confusion that occurred on that first day as people read stories about two pilots being recovered they mistakenly thought that they were referring to both Strike Eagle crewmen.
As they were extracting the pilot, under reported heavy ground fire several people were injured and the helicopters were damaged. However the pilot was flown to safety and everybody made it back. A low-level rescue mission across Iran seems pretty crazy but the operation shifted into an even bolder phase on Day 2.
On Day 2 it was revealed that two C-130 (MC-130 variants?) had landed at a small agriculture landing strip roughly 33 miles south of Isfahan- a major Iranian city that, with its missile production complexes, airbases, and uranium conversion facilitate is an important hub for the Iranian military and the IRGC.
Images were released showing that U.S. forces had taken over the above mentioned airstrip and had set up a forward operating base of sorts. After the operation concluded President Trump revealed that “hundreds” of people had taken part in the operation. This leads us to believe that the force they landed at that airport was significant.
The Weapon systems officer was reportedly hiding at the top of a mountain that he had climbed after ejecting from his airplane and being separated from the pilot. Almost 50 hours after the plane was shot down the operation to rescue the wounded WSO began on Easter Sunday.
“He scaled cliff faces bleeding rather profusely, treated his own wounds and contacted American forces to transmit his location,”
President Donald Trump speaking about the WSO.
According to President Trump once the WSO was located a massive force was mobilized to retrieve him from his hiding spot. The force involved 155 aircraft, including four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refueling tankers, 13 rescue aircraft and more. The four bombers, likely B-1 Lancers or B-52’s cratered a number of roads leading to the mountain where the WSO was hiding, dropping at least 100 2000lb bombs according to the Wall Street Journal article linked below.
Some of those roads can be seen on satellite images released in the days since.
Not all of the assets listed above were involved in the main effort to rescue the stranded WSO, in fact according to the White House many of the airplanes were used in diversion tactics, running strikes to cause confusion and keep the Irans running around. At this point several thousand Iranians were running around trying to capture the American. The longer this mission went on the more dangerous it was for everybody involved.
While all of these was happening a refueling and rearming point had been established at the farm airstrip and two MC-130J special operations cargo planes that included several little bird helicopters and other equipment and soldiers.
After the wounded WSO was recovered he was pulled back to this farm landing strip. Trump said that with the MC-130s were stuck in the wet, sandy soil, “we blew them up to smithereens.” The helicopters brought in by plane were also blown up in place as well, because the aircraft that replaced the Commando IIs weren’t capable of exfilling them and leaving them intact ment leaving them in the hands of the enemy. To replace the stuck cargo special forces cargo planes they brought in “lighter, faster aircraft…” said Trump” came in and brought them out.”
It’s almost certain the airplane he is talking about is the CASA C-295W Perssauder, a short take off and landing twin turboprop plane that are modified with special forces operations in mind.
At least one of these was filmed by locals coming into the region at the end of Sunday. As @OSINTTechnical mentions these are from the 427th Special Operations Squadron and specifically handle infiltration and exfiltration from hostile territory.
This is the plane that ultimately brought the WSO out of enemy territory after his multi-day ordeal, climbing a mountain and being shot down and injured behind enemy lines.
We know that Israeli forces also aided in reconnaissance and intelligence information regarding the location and status of the WSO during his time hiding from Iranian forces.
During the time of the rescue Fox News and several other outlets reported a strike being ordered using B-2 Spirit stealth bombers loaded with Massive Ordnance Penetrators to strike an IRGC underground headquarters outside of the Iranian capital, Tehran.
You can be sure there is much about this strike that will remain unknown until somebody writes a book about it. Until then this is everything GCR has managed to gather since the two crew were first reported down inside of Iranian borders.
Sources
(There was some great reporting done on this whole thing, I’d like to list a couple here as well as some extra videos and post)
The WarZone (TWZ) as always, did great work. I always recommend people go read them as well.
Link- https://www.twz.com/news-features/everything-we-now-know-about-the-operation-to-rescue-the-f-15e-wso
The Reuters report is also solid.
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