US aircraft destroyed during Iran rescue mission each cost over $100M: Report

ISTANBUL

Aircraft used by the United States during a rescue mission in Iran and later destroyed each cost more than $100 million, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing US military data.

MC-130J aircraft were deployed in an operation to recover crew members of a downed F-15E fighter jet, including a second crewman who was successfully rescued.

According to the US Air Force Special Operations Command, the MC-130J is designed to insert and extract troops in hostile environments and can be refueled midair. The aircraft is also equipped with advanced defensive systems, including sensors to counter air-defense threats such as heat-seeking missiles.

An American official said the US destroyed two of its MC-130J aircraft during the rescue mission, without providing details on how the planes were lost, according to the report.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), however, said in a statement released on Sunday that its forces had destroyed “enemy flying objects” that entered central parts of the country during what it described as a failed rescue attempt.

Images circulated by Iranian officials appeared to show the wreckage of at least one aircraft.

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Qalibaf said in a social media post: “If the United States gets three more victories like this, it will be utterly ruined.”

Iranian officials also claimed that additional aircraft, including helicopters and a transport plane, were destroyed during the US rescue operation, though these claims have not been independently verified.

US special operations forces rescued the second crew member on Saturday of an F-15 fighter jet downed above Iran.

The rescue capped a tense 36-hour operation in southwest Iran, where US forces and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were reportedly trying to reach the missing American officer.