American forces successfully extracted a U.S. military navigator from deep within Iranian territory Sunday morning, following a complex rescue operation that required the intentional destruction of two U.S. aircraft to prevent sensitive technology from falling into enemy hands.
The navigator had been missing since Friday after his plane was downed over the "dangerous mountains of Iran." According to reports from The New York Times, the rescue mission hit a critical snag when two transport planes, tasked with carrying commando units and aircrews, became disabled at a remote Iranian site.
Faced with the prospect of the Islamic Republic seizing the grounded assets, commanders ordered the two transport planes destroyed. Three additional aircraft were flown in to complete the extraction.
