U.S. officials announced on Thursday that a U.S. military helicopter crashed in Western Iraq. The crash occurred on Thursday afternoon near the town of Qaim in al Anbar Province. The announcement of the helicopter crash in Iraq comes on the heels of a U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet off the coast of Key West, Florida on Wednesday. Both the pilot and the weapons system officer on the Super Hornet were killed in the crash.
As for the helicopter crash in Iraq, officials announced that it was a U.S. Air Force HH-60 Pavehawk helicopter. This type of aircraft, a modified version of the Army’s Blackhawk helicopter, is typically used by U.S. Air Force Special Operations units such as Pararescue squadrons.
Pararescue units conduct search and rescue missions for downed pilots and medevac missions for wounded troops, often in dangerous and hostile environments. U.S. Air Force Parascue units also support NASA missions and have been used to recover astronauts after water landings.
Pavehawks have a primary mission to “conduct day or night personnel recovery operations into hostile environments to recover isolated personnel during war,” a U.S. Air Force fact sheet states.
There was no word yet on the status of the crew but it was announced that the Pavehawk was carrying seven service members. There was no indication that the helicopter was shot down.
Captain Ann Marie Annicelli, a spokesperson for Air Forces Central Command, said in statement to Air Force Times that rescue teams were responding to the site of the crash and further details will be released when they are available.
One U.S. defense official said that there were “likely fatalities” and that the aircraft was not participating in a combat mission at the time of the incident.
U.S. forces have been operating in Iraq as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the name of the fight against the Islamic State. Qaim, the city near where the Pavehawk crashed on Thursday, was held by the Islamic State until October when Iraqi security forces retook the city. They received assistance from U.S. troops, operating in an advise and assist role. U.S. aircraft also provided significant assistance in the form of air strikes, reconnaissance, surveillance, and targeting.
While the Iraqi government has declared victory over the Islamic State, close to 5,000 U.S. troops remain on the ground in Iraq. The Pentagon has said that those numbers will be reduced as their presence is politically sensitive for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is facing national elections this month.
The campaign to defeat the Islamic State, or ISIS, has been ongoing in Iraq since 2014. U.S. planes have carried out over 25,000 air strikes and close to a dozen U.S. troops have been killed by hostile fire while battling the Islamic State in Iraq. Since the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq in 2010, American troops have been held to an advisory role in the fight against the insurgency and later against the Islamic State.
The last crash involving a U.S. aircraft in the fight against the Islamic State occurred in September. A U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey crashed at a Coalition base in Syria, injuring 2 Marines.
