Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt said Friday on Newsmax that he expects positive news overnight on the recovery of the downed U.S. weapons systems officer from an F-15E Strike Eagle brought down by Iranian fire.
Holt, appearing on "Rob Schmitt Tonight," called the officer's status "the most important issue."
"Our downed weapon system officer, who I think, and I'm hearing it from a couple of directions now, but this is not confirmation by any stretch, but I think we're going to get some good news. I think we're going to find out overnight that we've got our weapons systems officer back," Holt said.
He added that the information "remains to be confirmed by the professionals." He noted, "I'm a general who makes a lot of telephone calls" to gather the facts.
The comments came as Iran downed a U.S. F-15E fighter jet over its territory, with one crew member rescued and the other still missing amid an ongoing search-and-rescue operation.
Turning to the aircraft, Holt described the F-15E as still highly capable, albeit aged.
"The F-15E Strike Eagle is a formidable weapon even still to this day," he said. "She is an antique because of a broken procurement system that we have."
He said it was not yet clear how Iranian forces managed to bring down the jet.
"If you throw enough metal up in the sky, you can get something," Holt said. "Was it a shoulder-fired missile or triple-A? Well, we don't know yet. We'll find that out."
Meanwhile, a second U.S. combat aircraft crashed near the Strait of Hormuz following an earlier F-15 downing over southern Iran, according to U.S. officials and media reports.
Two officials told The New York Times an A-10 Warthog also went down at that time; the pilot was rescued.
Holt acknowledged that there are always inherent dangers in conflict.
"War is not without risk. And the risks here are not zero yet," he said. "But we still do have air superiority, even though we lost a couple of jets today."
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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