It seems the Americans weren't trying to rescue the downed F-15 pilot; they wanted to launch an invasion of Iran. That's why they arrived with planes and hundreds of special forces. They wanted to open up an abandoned airport south of Isfahan (near Iraq and Kuwait).
Posted by ArchitectMary@reddit | EndlessWar | View on Reddit | 24 comments
The Iranian paramilitary forces knew this and went to confront them. Due to the intense fighting and the downing of two C-130s, the Americans finally fled. (They left their underwear behind, by the way.)
đ Why did they bring two cargo planes to rescue a pilot?
Standard-Cactus@reddit
Real ass answer here- at least one of those 130s was a refueler for the helicopters. The âlittle birdâ helos are not long range aircraft. If you wanna refuel in enemy territory, you bring security (another 130 full of dudes and guns). If your Jolly Greens canât take off after the refuel mission, you sure as fuck donât just leave it there for the enemy. You destroy it.
Could have been some Spec Ops around for other reasons, we will never know. The official story and the conspiracy theory are both very real possibilities. Historians will sort out what really went down.
ttystikk@reddit
Of course we know. Isfahan, the Iranian nuclear enrichment facility, was just 35 km away over the next hill. It was a covert ops team using the excuse of a downed plane and the attendant rescue effort to get into the base and steal Iran's enriched uranium.
ThePartycove@reddit
âHistorians will sort out what really went downâ đđ
exoriare@reddit
They have fuel/water bladders that can be air dropped. They were holding Iranian ground forces back via intensive air support, so it's not the kind of situation where they'd need troops on the ground.
Standard-Cactus@reddit
Youâve never worked on combat aircraft in a war time situation, clearly. Fueling an aircraft isnât the same as pumping 87 octane into your Toyota.
exoriare@reddit
The bladders only hold 400 gallons each, but this isn't about getting a B-2 back to Guam - it's a few Blackhawks that need to extend their range 400km.
If you think this is impractical, I'll have to look at your play-doh re-enactment.
PNDubb_hikingclub@reddit
I hope we eventually come to recognize that all our military forces are war criminals. Expeditionary colonial mercenaries disguised as defenders of democracy and freedom.
Inevitable-Regret411@reddit
Bringing cargo planes in an operation like this isn't unprecedented. During operation Eagle Claw several C-130 aircraft were loaded with fuel and were intend to land so that helicopters could land next to them, refuel, and continue their journey. This could be something similar.Â
bobood@reddit
True. People are reaching with this.
Details might be murky but the basics are pretty darn obvious and straight forward; this was a rescue operation for the WSO, whose capture would have been a disaster for the US. The resources they threw at the problem was totally to be expected and small potatoes compared to the fallout from a captured airman.
And as I recall it, they had to blow up a c130 or two in that operation too.
yazalama@reddit
Why would anyone single captured pilot be such a disaster?
Inevitable-Regret411@reddit
It mostly comes down to morale. Other pilots will be more willing to fly missions if they're confident that if anything happens the air force will make every effort to recover them. It's the same reason pilots became more willing to carry out risky missions after they first started being issued parachutes.Â
bobood@reddit
That's all true on its own but I think it's not the notable thing here. It would have been politically disastrous for the Trump administration domestically and for America internationally.
bobood@reddit
Leverage for the Iranians. And the American public's relatively greater aversion to seeing even a small number of soldiers injured, killed or captured.
SexualMetawhore@reddit
If he doesn't 86 himself he could end up giving intel out. Plus the media / morale issue which is at a low (Trump is threatening to put reporters in jail under national security).
Other than that, the rescuing of the pilot was not important and this was really an incursion/mission to do something else like of much higher value such as go after IRGC high command that were in a place where strikes could not reach due to intel and/or capability reach.
objectiveotherwise52@reddit
A c130 and a couple little birds on the runway (different sources account different things but it was most likely scuttling to save time and Intel)
LocalFoe@reddit
still not getting how exactly it 'seems' so
i_havenoideawhat@reddit
From the position of the wreckage (just south of Isfahan) it's very unlikely that the mission was only about the crashed pilot. Why would they go so deep into Iran when the Guy was just in the mountains east of Khusestan. I think it's very likely that they were also trying to set up a temporary base to go to Natanz but the Mission failed.
ENORMOUS_HORSECOCK@reddit
I feel like all those generals who just "retired" had opinions about stuff like this.
metameh@reddit
Maybe, maybe not. Their departures "merely" being part of the ongoing political purge is just as explanatory and doesn't require us to make suppositions about their stances on things. They weren't even involved in commanding combat troops, just trainers, recruiters, trainees, and chaplains. If it was their opinions that got them in trouble, it probably had to do with ICE detaining troops' spouses and Catholics being denied Good Friday services at the Pentagon.
WalnutNode@reddit
The US was probing a nuclear plant they wanted to raid/seize. They got hit unexpectedly and the mission to raid the plant had to be changed to a rescue. The airfield they also seized was too wet the overloaded cargo planes so the planes and everything on them had to be destroyed. It was botched and now that plant can't be taken, but it could have been much worse. It also gave away the game. The Kharg Island was a diversion Trumps real game is a raid for nuclear materials. When he's bloviating about the oil its misdirection. They'll have to attack a secondary target to get what they want in the three weeks left for the war.
objectiveotherwise52@reddit
It's more likely the US was (approximately) telling the truth, they wasted a lot of money and a few aircraft to get their guy out but it pays in the long run to know that the country you fight for will do all that to save you. The air field was a FARP so they could more easily get specops people in without needing the 3+ hour journey (and risks associated with it) to find the downed weapons operator. If america wanted to Invade Iran they woulda bombed the shit out of them (again) and sent in actually sizable units, more than a few hundred guys. (Although with this admin and the recent firing of everyone knowledgeable it's possible, if barely)
exoriare@reddit
The idea isn't that the US planned to be there for long, they needed to assault a nuclear facility and potentially recover some enriched uranium. They needed a forward base due to the distances involved. They could keep Iranian forces away for a limited time via intense air support, but that's not the sort of deployment which could hold for more than a few days.
objectiveotherwise52@reddit
That's possible yeah, that would be a raid though not an invasion as the post stated.
WindChimesAreCool@reddit
Incredible shitpost, thank you for your service