Early reports indicate that the pilot of a US F-15 fighter aircraft downed over Iran was rescued – which, if confirmed, would be the latest in the long history of US combat search-and-rescue missions over decades.
The search operation is ongoing deep inside Iran for a second crew member, according to CBS, the BBC’s US partner.
Combat search and rescue (CSAR) missions are considered among the most complex, time-sensitive operations that US and allied militaries prepare for.
In the US, elite units of the air force are specially trained for CSAR missions and are often pre-emptively deployed near conflict areas where aircraft could be lost.
What is Combat Search and Rescue?
Put simply, CSAR missions are military operations aimed at finding, aiding and potentially rescuing personnel in need, including downed pilots and isolated troops.
In contrast to conventional search-and-rescue efforts – which could take place during humanitarian operations or after disasters – CSAR missions occur in hostile or contested environments.
In some cases – as in Friday’s reported recovery effort in Iran – the operations may happen deep in enemy territory.
CSAR missions are often conducted by helicopters, with refuelling aircraft in support and other military aircraft on hand to conduct strikes and patrol the area.
A former commander of a pararescue jumpers squadron told CBS News that a rescue operation like the reported one in Iran would involve at least 24 pararescue jumpers scouring the area in Black Hawk helicopters.
They added the team would be prepared to jump from planes if needed, and once on the ground their priority would be to contact the missing crew member.
Upon locating them, the pararescue jumpers would deliver medical aid if necessary, evade the enemy and get to a place where they can be rescued, according to CBS News.
“Harrowing and massively dangerous is an understatement,” the former commander told CBS News.
They added: “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 that emerged from Iran on Friday appeared to show US military helicopters and at least one refuelling aircraft operating over Iran’s Khuzestan province.
The missions are extremely time-sensitive, as enemy forces would likely be deployed in the same area to try and locate the same US personnel the CSAR teams are trying to rescue.
Former US Marine Corps Special Operations specialist Jonathan Hackett told the BBC’s World Tonight programme that a rescue team’s priority would be to look for 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 said this type of reported rescue would be a “non-standard assisted recovery mission”, where indigenous groups in the area could have been previously contacted with the aim of creating contingency plans that could be activated to help with any rescues.
The history of CSAR missions
Airborne, wartime rescue missions have a long history, dating back to World War One pilots conducting impromptu landings in France to rescue downed colleagues.
The US military’s pararescue units trace their lineage back to a 1943 mission in which two combat surgeons parachuted into then-Burma – now Myanmar – to help wounded soldiers.
The world’s first helicopter rescue took place a year later, when a US lieutenant rescued four soldiers from behind Japanese lines, according to Smithsonian’s Air & Space Magazine. The incident also marked the first operational use of a helicopter in combat.
Formal search-and rescue units were first established in the US in the immediate aftermath of the conflict. But modern CSAR began during the Vietnam War.
One mission, known as Bat 21, led to the loss of several aircraft and multiple US casualties while attempting to recover the pilot of an aircraft shot down behind North Vietnamese lines.
The war required a vast expansion of CSAR missions with increased scope and complexity. The experience helped the military refine tactics and procedures that have helped form the foundation of rescue operations since.
The US Air Force’s pararescue teams
While each US military branch has their own limited CSAR capabilities, the US Air Force has the primary responsibility for finding and rescuing military personnel.
This work is primarily conducted by what are known as pararescue jumpers, 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 considered part of a broader promise to US service members that they will not be left behind.
These personnel are highly trained as both combatants and paramedics, and go through what is widely considered one of the hardest selection and training pipelines in the US military.
The selection-and-training process – which 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 received specialised courses in battlefield medicine, complex recovery operations and weapons.
On the ground, these teams are led by specialised Combat Rescue Officers, who are responsible for planning, co-ordinating and executing the recovery missions.
Recent US rescue missions
Pararescue teams deployed extensively throughout the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, conducting thousands of missions to rescue US and allied troops that were wounded or required extraction.
In 2005, air force pararescue teams were involved to recover a US 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 made into the film Lone Survivor.
Missions to recover downed US pilots have been rare in recent decades.
In 1999, the pilot of an F-117 stealth fighter shot down over Serbia was found and recovered by pararescuemen.
In a highly publicised incident in Bosnia in 1995, US 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.
By BBC News
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