President Donald Trump on Sunday confirmed that U.S. forces deliberately destroyed two large transport aircraft on Iranian soil during the rescue of a downed airman, a decision made to prevent advanced American military equipment aboard the planes from falling into enemy hands.
“We blew up the old planes and we blew them up to smithereens,” the president said at a White House briefing. “We didn’t want anybody examining our equipment.”
Trump explained that the two aircraft — which he described as large, older planes used to transport the extensive gear needed for a high-altitude mountain rescue — became stuck in wet, sandy soil at an improvised landing site that was effectively a farm field rather than a prepared runway. Weighed down by men and equipment, the planes could not safely take off.
Rather than risk further time on the ground deep inside Iranian territory, commanders activated a contingency plan that brought in lighter, faster replacement aircraft to evacuate all personnel. Once everyone was aboard the substitute aircraft, the original planes were destroyed.
The decision to demolish the aircraft rather than attempt to retrieve the sensitive technology onboard reflected a calculated trade-off, the president indicated. “We have the best equipment anywhere in the world,” he said. “We didn’t want anybody to have it — we didn’t want anybody examining our anti-aircraft and other equipment.”
Trump characterized the contingency plan itself as a demonstration of military genius, noting that the logistics of having backup aircraft pre-positioned for exactly such a scenario required foresight and planning that he said he found more impressive in some respects than the rescue itself. “Think of it — having a contingency of three planes waiting because we think the sand is so bad that we probably won’t be able to take off,” he said.
The improvised landing zone, located in what Trump described as the toughest terrain in Iran, was never designed for fixed-wing aircraft operations. The replacement planes ultimately came in rapidly in succession, loading personnel in 15-minute intervals before departing.
Military officials at the briefing did not specify the nature of the classified systems aboard the destroyed aircraft, citing operational security concerns. However, the president’s references to anti-aircraft equipment suggest the planes were carrying advanced defensive or electronic warfare systems whose exposure to foreign adversaries would have posed a significant national security risk.
The destruction of U.S. military equipment on foreign soil, while rare, is not without precedent. The most prominent recent parallel came in 2011 when a stealth helicopter was disabled and destroyed during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, to prevent Pakistan or other parties from examining its design.
No classified systems were reported to have been compromised during the Iran mission……See More
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