New Delhi: Recently, a wounded US pilot was rescued from Iran by the SEAL Team 6, the same unit that once secretly entered into Pakistan’s Abbottabad to kill
dreaded terrorist Osama bin Laden. The SEAL Team 6 is the United States Navy component of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). The unit is often referred to within JSOC as Task Force Blue.
How was the unit created?
The unit was created following the 1980 Iran hostage crisis from 1979 to 1981 in which 52 American diplomats and citizens were held in Tehran by Islamic revolutionaries. The US tried Operation Eagle Claw to rescue the hostages but failed as a helicopter collided with a C-130 transport aircraft, killing eight US servicemen. The 52 hostages were later released after a year due to diplomatic efforts.
SEAL Team Six was formally commissioned in November 1980, and it became the US Navy’s premier hostage rescue and counter-terrorism unit. In 1987, SEAL Team Six was formally decommissioned but it was actually renamed to Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU as it is commonly known as.
Daring missions of SEAL Team 6
In 2011, the unit took 24 Navy SEALs, two stealth helicopters, and 40 minutes on the ground to kill Laden without suffering a single casualty. The operation shocked the world and proved the might of one of the most mythical wings of the US military. Earlier, in 2009, the team rescued Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates and a move was later made based on the thrilling operation.
During the war between the US-Israel camp and Iran, the latter shot down an F-15E Strike Eagle in its territory. The pilot and a colonel who is a weapons systems officer ejected from the two-seat aircraft. The pilot was rescued within hours. The injured weapons officer spent almost two days evading capture in the mountains of Iran. While the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps tried to find him, the SEAL Team Six managed to enter the terrain and rescue the US officer successfully. President Trump on April 5 announced the success of the rescue mission and called the officer “a highly respected Colonel.”
