Aircraft destroyed during US ‘rescue’ of downed F-15 pilot cost more than $100 million each

The two aircraft used by the US military during the so-called rescue mission of the crew member of a downed F-15 Eagle, which were subsequently destroyed by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), cost more than $100 million each.

According to the US Air Force Special Operations Command, two MC-130J aircraft were used to rescue the second US airman.

They are advanced planes designed to put troops into hostile territories and retrieve them again. They have advanced sensors to defend against air-defense interceptors, such as heat-seeking systems, and can be refueled in flight.

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, on downing the aircraft, said “If the United States gets three more victories like this it will be utterly ruined.”

In a statement released on Sunday, the IRGC’s Public Relations Department said, “Following desperate US moves to rescue the pilot of the downed fighter jet and the entry of flying objects to the country’s central parts, the enemy’s flying objects were destroyed and the US once again suffered a humiliating defeat.”

The announcement came after US President Donald Trump claimed in a social media post that his country’s military “got” the pilot during an operation, one day after rescuing another pilot.

The spokesman for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, said that the enemy’s desperate efforts to rescue the pilot of the downed jet “failed” with the grace of God, divine providence, as well as the timing measures and the joint operation of the fighters of the IRGC, the Army, Basij and police.

He added that the enemy flying objects, including two Black Hawk helicopters and a C-130 transport plane, are burning in fire.

The US and Israel launched an unprovoked aggression against Iran in late February by attacking 30 targets across Tehran and assassinating the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, along with several senior Iranian officials.

Since then, Iranian armed forces have retaliated strongly by launching barrages of missiles and drones at Israeli-occupied territories, as well as US bases across the region.

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