No - it is either a MC-130J Commando II or HC-130J Combat King II SF aircraft which are equipped to refuel SF helos.

The USAF uses A-10Cs to provide suppressing fire for CSAR missions like the A-1 Skyraider did for CSAR during the Vietnam era - and A-1OCs have been spotted over the CSAR mission today.

https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-She...ombat-king-ii/

https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-She...j-commando-ii/

Salute!
Typical PR photo of 130 refueling choppers.
In actual practice they refuel well clear of the pickup coordinates, sometimes before, but mostly after pickup attempt depending on how close to freindlies.
I escorted a burning Jolly away from an attempted pickup and on one engine he was barely able to fly fast enough for the 130 to refuel him after fire subdued. 130 had flaps down and very high aoa, but got him enuf jp-4 to reach NKP. Survivor captured and I conversed with him years afterward( Acosta - Kansas 01B)....I was Sandy 3 with the backup Jolly, had to scold second Jolly about rushing in. Could not afford two choppers down so we all got together when first Jolly egressed a few miles and lived happily ever afterward.

Gums...

Totally agree. I spent well over a year serving out in Afghanistan shoulder to shoulder with the US (and other coalition partners).

Not verified.

BREAKING NEWS: A Black Hawk helicopter, which was conducting a search flight to rescue the pilots of a U.S. aircraft shot down by Iran, was also shot down. If this continues, the U.S. fleet of the coalition will be left without aircraft or helicopters. - Iranian media

The Chinese might want to invest in some decent optics.

Too smal for blackhawk..

Interesting….

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjd8275jrrko

French owned ship passes (safely it seems!) through the Strait of Hormuz. Nothing to say it was in reverse gear either.

A10 down near the Strait of Hormuz with the pilot safely recovered, according to the NYT.

"According to the Times, the A-10 Warthog went down near the Strait of Hormuz at around the same time that an F-15E was shot down over Iran."
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d1106e6fa9.jpg

2 HH-60G Pavehawks hit on the F-15 rescue attempt.

I removed that link as the aircraft was from an earlier incident pre war but you beat me too copying it.

Gee, I wonder if there was a connection...

Video

Starting to take out the Iranian TV and radio networks. The internet is out already.[QUOTE]https://x.com/Osinttechnical/status/2040172369935810987?s=20[/QUOTE]

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f0a5c5faa5.png
​​​​​​​

Thanks. Very clear connection.

Possibly a smart move from Iran. Given that Keir Starmer has in recent days said he seeks closer ties with Europe (rather than the US-which is repeatedly proving to be a fickle ally), and he has a background as a Human Rights Lawyer, all he needs to do is follow suit. British flagged vessels can then sail unhindered. This would need Britain to stop allowing US “defensive strikes” from taking place from the UK. Small price to pay-if at all from a UK perspective. Iran can then negotiate with Europe

Salute!
Going on record from seeing all the ignorant new folks' coverage of Mudhen loss...we prolly have the WSO and the front seater didn't get out or ejected well after his gib.
Had a classmate that swore he would never be taken alive because he knew too much of value to the enemy. His back seater punched and was recovered, but my friend was officially declared KIA awhile later and I cannot be sure they recovered any remains. Of course, I had another classmate go missing in '71 and discovered about 3 or 4 years ago. Buried at a national cemetery.

Gums suggests...

Stage 3 Ballroom.

From New York Times:

Chinook destroyed on ground in Kuwait by Iranian drone:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....bfea8e566.jpeg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7c81e42be1.png





Also a F-16 reported shot down to join the F-15E and A-10C losses.

In the broadcast media news, "SERE"
 

As I write this, news reports are heavily emphasizing the search and hoped-for rescue of the second aircrew member of the downed F-15E aircraft.

A few posts previous to this, Gums wrote of his experience in similar situations. Together with the media focus of the moment, I've been reminded of an item I read recently with some details about Jane Fonda's visit to North Vietnam which I had not previously known about. What that article brought to my attention (and yes, I am taking its assertions at face value, as I have no reason to find them exaggerated or falsified, but I also claim no particular expertise on the efforts by which she became known as "Hanoi Jane") was that the captors cleaned several American POWs up and presented them to Ms. Fonda as proof of the captors' good treatment. Several (according to the article) surreptitiously slipped their visitor small strips of paper, with notes intended to tell officials back home about their mistreatment, assuming Fonda would take their notes home and deliver them accordingly. Instead, ....

Instead, according to the article, Ms. Fonda delivered the notes to the captors. Several POWs were severely beaten, and (if I recall the article correctly) at least one died as a result of injuries so sustained.

In no way whatsoever does this post criticize or object to the media focus at present on the search and rescue effort. Rather, consider that during the air war over North Vietnam, was there ever such media focus over the losses of aircraft and aircrew? Granted, the media landscape during that war was vastly different. Still, Marshall McLuhan's writings stalk the progress, and regression, of global events even today. Still, the Medium is the Massage. But what would be a correct and valid designation - the phenomenon of intense focus on the downing of one aircraft and the results of CSAR efforts for two aircrew compared to the merely occasional coverage in the Walter Cronkite era - is it McLuhan 3.0? or some further iteration?

The aviation aspects of this war thus far are instructive on so many levels. "U.S. aircraft overwhelm[ed] Russian and Chinese equipment." (op-ed, WSJ, April 3, 2026 'Defeatism on the Left, Pollyannas on the Right', by Elliot Kaufman). The cited op-ed presents good fact-based assessment of the missile capacities of the Iranis - and this makes it fair game, in my view, for the aviation focus of this thread. If nothing else, IAMD - Integrated Air and Missile Defense - supports citing the op-ed here; after all, drones also operate through the airspace, or at least the air littorals.
(The op-ed has much to commend it. Among other things, it clearly articulates that the strategic outcome is far from determined - but without making the argument based on unwillingness or inability of, uh, certain national government leaders. Implicit in the op-ed is an observation that despite the strengths, weaknesses or enigmas present in any such leaders, there are aspects of the U.S. presidency which are constant, and do not yield, or at least do not yield in any material way, to the foibles of a specific occupant of the office. In that context, it additionally notes that "options" for escalation indeed need to be examined closely insofar as risks, potential losses and plausible gains are concerned.)

It's too darn bad that for decades, the media-cultural industrial complex has broadcast, filmed and otherwise made and distributed such vast amounts of "content" which rather than laud and inculcate respect for the men and women who put on the uniform and serve, has produced such volumes of derision, disrespect and disregard for their service. Yes, I have watched both Maverick films - back to back - on a flight coming back from Brussels and EUROCONTROL. That sort of content helps, but I already wanted to see the films again, and so don't chalk it up to the altitude over the North Atlantic, back to Chicago.

Those were hoaxes debunked by the very POWs named in these stories. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jane-fonda-pows/