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A U.S. Air Force F-15 Strike Eagle jet has crashed in Libya, the U.S. military said Tuesday. Both crew members ejected
one was safely recovered and the U.S. military was on a mission to recover the other one.
Vince Crawley, a spokesman for the Africa Command, says the crash could have been due to a mechanical failure.
"We do not believe it was shot down," Crawley said Tuesday.
It was not immediately known where or when the plane went down. Crawley said until the second crewman is recovered the U.S.'s Africa Command would not offer further details.
The crew members were separated because they ejected at high altitudes and ended up in different areas, Crawley said, adding that both had minor injuries.CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that the two crew members were recovered by Libyan rebels, who are in an unofficial alliance with the United States. The rebels started the process of returning them to U.S. forces. Officials tell Martin that the U.S. military has been in contact with both pilots. One is already back in U.S. Hands. The other is in the process of being returned.
Crawley declined to confirm who was aiding in the recovery of the crew members, noting that before each mission the military already has recovery plans in place.
"That operation is taking place as we speak," Crawley said.
The Air Force has said only that B-2, F-15 and F-16 fighters are participating in operations over Libya. The U.S.'s involvement in Libya is being run by Africa Command, which is based in Stuttgart, Germany.Martin reports that air strikes by U.S. and coalition jets over the past three days have destroyed the vast majority of Col. Qaddafi's stationary air defense installations, but there are still mobile surface-to-air missile sites, including shoulder-fired missiles. These usually cannot reach as high as American planes fly, however. U.S. jets can now bomb from over 20,000 feet, so they're out of range.
Martin says that as the coalition-enforced no-fly zone is extended west, toward Tripoli, they expect to get over territory where Qaddafi's forces have these mobile surface-to-air missiles. So the air defense threat is not totally gone.
CBS
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