The US Air Force Colonel who was rescued in a daring operation from the mountainous region of Iran last night was saved by cutting-edge military technology. The Colonel had a locating beacon on him, through which he securely transmitted his exact location during the 48-hour ordeal ‘behind enemy lines’.Armed drones, the MQ9B, kept a continuous watch from above and fired at anyone or any vehicle within a radius of 3 miles of his location in a mountain crevice in western Iran. The Colonel had trekked to the height, away from the crash site, to avoid the trailing Iranian forces.The Colonel, who has not been identified, was the Weapons Systems Operator on the F-15E Strike Eagle jet the Iranians had downed on Thursday night. The pilot of the jet had been rescued on the day of crash. The seats of the F-15 jet also have a beacon to give exact coordinates which are then picked up by satellites and drones, making the task easier for rescue teams. The Colonel had to move to a safer area and used his personal beacon to give his coordinates. The high-resolution imagery on the drones then provided the terrain for the planners at base.The US deployed dozens of planes, special operations troops, cyber, space and intelligence assets, which showed its ability to carry out the difficult operation at night.An attempted extraction of hostages in 1980 in Iran had failed, when two US aviation assets collided while aborting the mission. The airmen were taken hostage by Iran for almost 18 months. Another rescue attempt of a pilot in 1995 in Bosnia was successful, which inspired the 2001 film, ‘Behind Enemy Lines’.Meanwhile on Saturday, a firefight ensued at the spot of extraction in Iran. The US forces destroyed two of its planes, the MC-130Js, and a helicopter that had not been able to fly out. The planes had landed on sandy strip to disembark troops.