POST UPDATED BELOW
A simple PowerPoint briefing provided by the Pentagon gives a good overview of forces supporting Operation Odyessy Dawn in Libya.
Based on the maritime assets depicted, there is no US aircraft carrier participting. It looks like the only US strike aviation coming from the Med is being provided by Marines abord the USS Kearsarge. Otherwise, manned US aircraft will be arriving from remote bases in Europe and the US (and unmanned attacks will come from Tomahawks cruise missiles).
Of the US Navy ships listed, the USS Kearsarge and the USS Ponce are capable of hosting CSAR forces (presumably Navy or USMC forces). My guess is that the Kearsarge’s MEU(SOC) has that tasking (remember the recovery of Capt Scott O’Grady by a Kearsarge-base MEU?). I also suspect that the US is not the primary force for overland rescue, preferring instead for our European partners to take that risk. That is just my speculation, of course.
UPDATE 1: My speculation about US hesitance to lead a rescue effort was apparently wrong. The US Marines are reported to have rescued one of the two downed F-15E pilots. Release of US personnel for that “boots on the ground” typ mission is noteworthy enough, but it was also the first true CSAR mission flown by a V-22. I’m sure that fact will be discussed for the forseeable future…
UPDATE 2: U.S. rescue chopper shoots six Libyan villagers as they welcome pilots of downed Air Force jet
Six Libyan villagers are recovering in hospital after being shot by American soldiers coming in to rescue the U.S. pilots whose plane crash-landed in a field.
The helicopter strafed the ground as it landed in a field outside Benghazi beside the downed U.S. Air Force F-15E Eagle which ran into trouble during bombing raid last night.
The report is unclear, but it seems this might have been the mission to recover the second aircrewman (the first having been reported as being rescued by USMC V-22)
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