Two US special operation aircrafts were blown up on the ground during the rescue mission of the second American pilot in Iran, a person who is familiar with the mission told the Wall Street Journal.
Officials say that during the course of the mission it became necessary to destroy two MC-130J aircrafts which were used for the covert operations. The advanced planes each cost more than $100 million. The planes were designed so that they could be refueled in flight and were equipped with advanced sensors to defend against interceptors.
The US forces had to reportedly destroy their aircrafts after they were stuck during the mission to prevent them from being taken by Iranian forces, the officials said.
The CIA reportedly took a day to locate the second missing pilot, Axios reported. After that they launched a disinformation campaign in Iran to create the impression that he had been found to mislead them.
They also reportedly used Uncrewed Reaper drones to strike males within three kilometres of the pilot and those who were perceived as threat.
US officials and Donald Trump said that no Americans were killed or injured in the rescue mission.
Iranian officials however have now claimed that they destroyed the warplanes, thwarting the pilot rescue mission. Dismissing US claims they said that the Iranian military forces, involving the aerospace, ground forces, volunteer Basij units and law enforcement destroyed the US aircrafts in southern Isfahan.
This is however, not the first time the US had to destroy their own equipment in enemy territory.
During the 2011 Operation Neptune Spear, US Navy SEALs destroyed one of their own Stealth Black Hawk helicopters that crash landed in Afghanistan to prevent them from being taken by the enemy. The helicopters had sensitive radar evading technology. Intelligence specialists also removed valuable data from the aircrafts before they blew it up with explosives.
US troops had to bring additional aircraft to complete the rescue of the US F-15E pilot.
Iranian state media shared visuals of the the planes which were destroyed. The military claimed that US forces used an abandoned airstrip to conduct the operation. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, called the American operation a “deception” he said that the US lost a C-130 military transport plane and two Black Hawk helicopters during the mission.
At least seven manned US aircraft have been destroyed during the war, CNN reported.