US mission to rescue missing pilot faces ‘threat of further enemy fire’

[0:00] Let's take a closer look at the U.S. fighter jet that Iran says it downed over the southwest. [0:06] The first model of the U.S. F-18E Strike Eagle fighter was delivered in 1988. [0:11] It's a dual-role fighter jet, and that means it can conduct air-to-air combat and ground attack missions. [0:17] The plane has two crew members, a pilot and a weapons officer. [0:22] When it was first released, each plane cost $31 million. [0:25] Newer models are now closer to $100 million. [0:29] Joining us now is Samir Puri. [0:32] He's a visiting lecturer in war studies at King's College in London, and he is joining us from Singapore. [0:37] Thank you so much for being with us to talk about this story. [0:41] I want to ask you first, how difficult of a search-and-rescue operation will this be for the United States? [0:49] It's going to be very challenging because it's going to be a search-and-rescue mission [0:53] that's being conducted under the further threat of Iranian fire at any of the aircraft, [0:59] whether they're helicopters or other aircrafts. [1:01] There's only a limited amount that satellites and things can do at a certain level [1:08] because this is looking for one individual, one crew member from the F-15E that was shot down [1:14] in a very large area, some of it's mountainous, some of it's desert. [1:19] But a lot of it's going to require quite a close view from aircraft that are having to pass [1:23] through the threat of further enemy fire. [1:26] And of course, for Iran, downing a third American aircraft in quick succession would be, [1:31] I think, a very, very big prize indeed. [1:33] Samir, I want to play for you, before I ask the next question, a clip from the U.S. Secretary of Defense, [1:39] Pete Hegseth, and what he's been saying over the past couple of weeks. [1:42] I hope all the folks watching understand what uncontested airspace and complete control means. [1:50] It means we will fly all day, all night, day and night, finding, fixing, and finishing [1:58] the missiles and defense industrial base of the Iranian military. [2:01] We've done all of it. [2:02] Their navy is gone. [2:03] Their air force is gone. [2:05] Their missiles are just about used up or beaten. [2:09] So, Samir, that was the defense secretary and also, obviously, the U.S. President, Donald Trump. [2:14] What does this mean for the narrative that they have, that they have total control now over Iran's skies? [2:22] It's interesting because at a very basic level, it's deeply embarrassing, [2:27] simply because air superiority, which is what Hegseth and Trump are talking about there, [2:32] has been something they've spoken of very prominently, [2:35] perhaps too prominently, [2:36] I think. [2:37] And this challenges that narrative. [2:39] Now, on the other hand, from a more military perspective, it is important to understand [2:44] what air superiority actually means. [2:46] It doesn't necessarily mean that an aircraft can fly across the adversary's country and [2:53] suffer no risk. [2:54] It's just that the risk is very, very minimal. [2:56] So, one has to put this into context, which is that the U.S. and Israel have now flown [3:01] in just about 35, 36 days. [3:05] Probably thousands of them. [3:06] Probably thousands of sorties in terms of individual aircraft, and so far, they've had [3:11] very few incidents where aircraft have been hit, and certainly these two being shot down. [3:17] Of course, the previous three U.S. aircraft that were downed were downed in a mistaken [3:22] identity case with a friendly Arab state country's aircraft, targeted by mistake. [3:28] So, I think, relatively speaking, the claim of air superiority still holds, but the mounting [3:34] toll of U.S. aircraft. [3:35] Which may grow further if they continue to mount these sorties at this rate of frequency, [3:42] will can start to challenge that narrative and start to challenge the parameters of freedom [3:46] within which the U.S. Air Force in particular can operate in these areas that are quite [3:51] close to the Persian Gulf that I think are going to be increasingly important for the [3:55] Americans to want to attack to try to also regain control over the security situation [4:01] around the Straits of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf more generally. [4:04] The president also says that this incident will not affect negotiations with Iran. [4:10] Is that realistic? [4:11] No, it's not realistic, because negotiations do not only comprise in wartime of the things [4:20] that the negotiators say, it's also the implicit sense of advantage as the battlefield picture [4:26] changes. [4:27] So, this is hugely symbolic, a moment of triumph for the Iranian military, which has, of course, [4:33] been on the receiving end of an enormous amount of war. [4:34] Thank you. [4:36] Thank you. [4:37] And then, of course, there's the threat of, of firepower and munitions that have been [4:39] fired at them by the U.S. and Israeli Air Forces and ballistic missiles and other things. [4:44] This is one of the first moments that Iran and the Iranian military and the IRGC will [4:49] feel that they have some momentum, even as you've already asked me about on the rhetorical [4:53] point, challenging this notion of air superiority. [4:56] So, no, I don't think it's totally immaterial. [5:00] Just one last reflection on this. [5:03] Everybody remembers the Black Hawk down incident from Somalia. [5:05] It was in the Middle East. [5:06] Mm-hm. [5:06] different war in 1993, a lot of what that entailed as a military disaster for the U.S. were individual [5:13] missions to recover downed U.S. helicopters in that case. So there's no assurance this situation [5:19] doesn't snowball in a more difficult sort of heartbreaking direction for the U.S. if they [5:25] suffer more casualties trying to recover this one lost air crew. Right. Samir Puri from King's [5:32] College London, thank you very much for joining us from Singapore. Thank you.