Trump: Pilot in Peril Bleeding Heavily, Hiding in Mountain Cracks

Middle East – April 6, U.S. President Trump held a press conference to detail the rescue operation for the American fighter pilot. Trump emphasized that this was "one of the bravest rescue missions in American history," ordered personally by him, involving dozens of aircraft equipped with the most lethal weapons, and "no Americans were killed."

At 04:40 a.m. Tehran time on Friday, an alarm sounded: an F-15E fighter jet designated "Dude 44" was hit by a shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile, and its two crew members ejected safely. Trump stated that an American F-15 fighter had crashed deep inside Iran during a military operation against Iran, and both crew members ejected and landed safely on Iranian territory.

He was then required to make a decision, and he ordered U.S. forces to take all necessary measures to retrieve the pilots back to America. Within just a few hours, U.S. forces deployed 21 military aircraft deep into Iranian airspace. The second rescue mission mobilized up to 155 different aircraft, including four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 aerial refuelers, 13 rescue aircraft, and other support vehicles, and destroyed two transport planes stuck in the sand.

Trump explained that the second pilot "used what he had learned to climb into the mountains," and that he "was bleeding heavily" to avoid capture by Iranians. The U.S. president added that the pilot hid in rock crevices, "treated his wounds alone and managed to contact U.S. command to transmit his real-time location. The U.S. aimed to create a false impression, forcing the Iranians to spread their search efforts across different areas. Eventually, U.S. special operations forces engaged in combat with Iranian forces, rescued the stranded personnel, and successfully evacuated them from Iranian territory.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the CIA used "human resources and cutting-edge technology not available to other intelligence agencies worldwide" to locate the pilot’s hiding place. The U.S. CIA claimed they conducted a deception operation during the rescue mission. The CIA stated that they had to rapidly pinpoint the downed pilot’s location while simultaneously attempting to mislead the enemy. This deception operation aimed to throw off Iranian search teams hunting the American pilot.

An F-15E Strike Eagle twin-seat fighter jet of the U.S. Air Force was shot down on the third day above Isfahan Province in Iran, with both crew members ejecting safely. One was quickly rescued, while the other, according to information released by the U.S., was rescued two days later.

Source: rfi

Original: toutiao.com/article/1861761163955275/

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