Two crew members were aboard the F-15 jet when it crashed. The pilot was rescued by U.S. forces, while the search for the second crew member is ongoing, Axios and CBS News reported Friday afternoon, citing unnamed U.S. officials.
“We spend our entire careers training for this scenario and so there is no better trained and prepared force to go and execute this mission,” says Kunkel, who was a rescue helicopter pilot for the U.S. military. “We go to extreme lengths to make sure we rescue and take care of our aviators that go into harm's way.”
“It is a very complex effort,” Cantwell tells TIME.
“The most important piece of information is what is the location of the air crew. And that piece of information is so hard to get,” he says, noting that enemy forces are likely to attempt to “spoof” or put out false information regarding where a lost crew member might have landed. “It seems so basic, but it is so hard.”
“It might have been years [since] they've had the training, but I guarantee you that it kicks in right away,” Kunkel added, referring to SERE. He noted that “there’s always refresher training that occurs” prior to combat missions.
Once a crew member is located, a “rescue package” is put together involving several pieces of equipment and personnel that rely on a series of environmental and situational factors to successfully execute a rescue.
The personnel and equipment
The helicopter used for a rescue of this sort, according to Kunkel, is the HH-60W, which he says was built for these kinds of missions. Because these helicopters often have to travel such long distances to carry out rescues, refueling aircraft—specifically the HC-130J—will be deployed to ensure the HH-60Ws have enough gas.
“If there's any enemy forces that need to be suppressed during the actual extraction, then the A-10 will provide that suppressing fire to allow the rescue aircraft to get in there,” he tells TIME.
“The Air Force is the only service that specifically organizes, trains, and equips for this mission,” he says. “We want them to know that there will be every effort made to come rescue them.”
Key considerations and concerns
“Whether it's day- or nighttime has a significant factor,” says Kunkel. He notes that daytime rescues can turn into a “race” with enemy forces because operations can easily expose the location of a crew member.
Another key consideration is whether or not the stranded crew member is mobile––”a really important, key piece to this,” Cantwell says, as a crew member being immobile restricts the range of locations from which a rescue can be carried out.
Cantwell’s biggest concern for this particular rescue mission is the possibility of capture.
If the U.S. crew member still being searched for evades capture, Cantwell is most concerned about their survival in harsh desert conditions.
“The thing I'd be most worried about is simply water. If you found yourself in the desert, there's not much places to conceal yourself,” he says.
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