Elite US military rescue units race Iran’s armed nomads to find airman

The United States Air Force maintains specialist units, aircraft and helicopter types and very highly trained crews for this type of operation, [but] it is very, very dangerous and high risk,” said Justin Bronk, a military expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a British security think tank. “They have to respond immediately when an air crew is downed, so they can’t necessarily pick the optimum window, by going in at night if the shoot-down happens by day. And of course, they’re having to look at ... a lot of risk from ground fire and things like man-portable air defence systems.”