Early reports suggest the pilot of a US F-15 fighter jet shot down over Iran has been rescued, marking the latest chapter in the long and perilous history of American combat search-and-rescue (CSAR) operations.
According to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, search efforts are ongoing deep inside Iranian territory for a second crew member. Verified video emerging from Iran on Friday appeared to show US military helicopters and at least one refueling aircraft operating over the country’s Khuzestan province.
CSAR missions are considered among the most complex and time-sensitive operations that US and allied militaries prepare for. In the US, elite Air Force units—trained specifically for such missions—are often pre-deployed near conflict zones where aircraft may be lost.
What is Combat Search and Rescue?
Unlike conventional search-and-rescue efforts following natural disasters or humanitarian crises, CSAR missions take place in hostile or contested environments. In some cases, as with Friday’s reported recovery attempt in Iran, operations may unfold deep inside enemy territory.
The missions are extremely time-sensitive, as enemy forces are typically racing to locate the same downed personnel that CSAR teams are trying to save. Modern CSAR operations are often conducted by helicopters, supported by refueling aircraft and additional military jets to conduct strikes and patrol the area.
A History Forged in War
Airborne rescue missions date back to World War One, when pilots conducted impromptu landings in France to recover downed colleagues. The US military’s pararescue units trace their lineage to a 1943 mission in which two combat surgeons parachuted into what is now Myanmar to aid 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. However, modern CSAR operations truly took shape during the Vietnam War. One infamous mission, known as Bat 21, saw multiple aircraft lost and several US casualties while attempting to recover a pilot shot down behind North Vietnamese lines. The experience helped the military refine tactics and procedures that remain the foundation of rescue operations today.
US Air Force Pararescue: ‘These Things We Do, That Others May Live’
While every US military branch has limited CSAR capabilities, the Air Force holds primary responsibility for finding and rescuing downed personnel. This work falls mainly to pararescuemen—or “PJs”—part of the military’s broader special-operations community.
Their official motto, “These Things We Do, That Others May Live,” reflects a solemn promise to US service members that they will not be left behind. Pararescuemen are highly trained as both combatants and paramedics, enduring one of the toughest selection and training pipelines in the US military.
The two-year process includes parachute and dive training, basic underwater demolition, survival and escape training, and a full civilian paramedic course, along with specialized instruction in battlefield medicine and complex recovery operations. Historically, about 80% of candidates wash out, according to military news site Sofrep.
Recent Rescue Missions
Pararescue teams deployed extensively throughout the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, conducting thousands of missions to rescue wounded US and allied troops. In 2005, PJs were involved in recovering a Navy SEAL who was wounded and sheltering in an Afghan village after his team was ambushed—an incident later dramatized in the film Lone Survivor.
Recoveries of downed US pilots have been rarer in recent decades. In 1999, the pilot of an F-117 stealth fighter shot down over Serbia was found and rescued by pararescuemen. In a highly publicized 1995 incident in Bosnia, 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.
