Originally Posted by
GlobalNav
I kind of doubt that the professional CSAR and SOF units would have chosen less than the best available assets.
The nearest V-22's were probably the Marine aircraft on the Tripoli out in the Arabian Gulf.
The choice of MH-6 over HH-60 was likely made by the Delta Force, who probably know what they're doing, but the actual rationale I don't know.
It would appear an overly complex mission to recover one individual 200nm from friendly territory, one would assume given the scale of the air campaign that the USAF would have CSAR assets in theatre that are available for exactly this mission, they would be normally be from the Air Force 24th Special Tactics Squadron and utilise MC-130's and HH-60's with significant air support.
How planner's came up with using a desert strip to land two C-130's and assemble and fly 4 MH-6's to recover a downed pilot with the use of Delta force or DevGru seams far fetched, the fact they had C-295's on standby as a contingency adds complexity that would to the untrained eye appear to point to a mission that had been in the works for a significant amount of time