A US A-10 Warthog attack plane crashed in the Persian Gulf region on Friday and the pilot, the only person on board, was rescued, two US officials told The New York Times. The incident occurred around the same time as the US F-15E fighter jet downed by Iranian forces, but the information had not been disclosed.
The two officials who spoke to the NYT offered few details about the A-10 Warthog incident, including how and where the incident occurred.
On Friday, Iranian forces shot down an F-15E fighter jet, a first since the start of the war launched by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic on February 28.
One of the two crew members was rescued, but the condition of the other serviceman on the plane is currently unknown, according to US and Israeli officials. CBS News reported, based on images on social media that it was able to independently verify, that a refueling plane and two U.S. military helicopters were flying at low altitude in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province, making maneuvers consistent with search-and-rescue missions.
A “key factor”
According to the NYT, military pilots are trained to act on principles called Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (survival, avoidance of capture, resistance and exit), or SERE, when US forces planes are shot down in the area of hostile territory.
“The key factor, in my opinion, is the time and the day. It's probably close to sunset, and that's good, because we usually have an advantage at night with our search and rescue people,” William J. Fallon, former head of the US military's Central Command, explained after the plane was shot down by Iranian forces.
On the other hand, the admiral pointed out that issues related to food, possible injuries and the operations of enemy forces can also make survival on the ground difficult.
So far, the US military has lost at least 16 MQ-9 Reaper drones over Iran since the war began on February 28, and in the first part of the conflict three F-15 fighter jets were shot down in Kuwait by “friendly fire”, so-called cases when there is accidental fire by own or allied forces.
