When an American F-15E Strike Eagle was brought down over Iran on 3 April by a shoulder-fired missile, the Pentagon executed what Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has since compared, with characteristic restraint, to the resurrection of Christ. Two crew members ejected. One was recovered within hours. The second, a wounded weapons systems officer, evaded capture for nearly two days in the mountains before Navy SEALs extracted him under heavy fire. Donald Trump posted “WE GOT HIM!” on Truth Social. Benjamin Netanyahu invoked Entebbe. The story was wrapped in a flag and filed away as triumph.

Then the arithmetic started to misbehave.

The rescue package, by figures now circulating in both American and Iranian sources, involved more than 150 aircraft: four bombers, sixty-four fighters, forty-eight refuelling tankers, thirteen dedicated rescue platforms, and a constellation of helicopters, drones and special-operations transports. A forward arming and refuelling point — a temporary desert airstrip improvised behind enemy lines to refuel and rearm helicopters mid-mission — was thrown together on a flat patch of desert near........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)