{"id":55065,"date":"2020-01-27T13:17:21","date_gmt":"2020-01-27T13:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/01\/27\/us-army-investigating-plane-crash-in-taliban-held-area\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:58:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:58:28","slug":"us-army-investigating-plane-crash-in-taliban-held-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2020\/01\/27\/us-army-investigating-plane-crash-in-taliban-held-area\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force E-11A aircraft goes down in eastern Afghanistan; US military investigating"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Video shows downed plane in Afghanistan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

An Air Force E-11A communications aircraft has crashed in Taliban-controlled territory in eastern Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gen. Dave Goldfein, Air Force chief of staff, told reporters late Monday morning that he could confirm the downed aircraft was a a Bombardier E-11A aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, that I can confirm,” he said. \u201cThat was what I [was] told coming over. It was an E-11. \u2026 We have to make sure we have the facts right and as soon as we get those facts I promise we\u2019ll get them to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked it hostile fire might have brought the plane down Goldfein said, \u201cWe don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, Col. Sonny Leggett, a spokesman for U.S. Forces\u2013Afghanistan, also confirmed that a “U.S. Bombardier E-11A crashed today in Ghazni province, Afghanistan. While the cause of crash is under investigation, there are no indications the crash was caused by enemy fire. We will provide additional information as it becomes available. “<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leggett also said Taliban claims that additional aircraft have crashed are false.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know the status of the crew,\u201d Goldfein said. “Our A3 director of operations and the AFCENT commander, Gen [Joseph] Guastella, are working with Gen. [Austin] Miller to make sure we know what\u2019s happening and deal with it. I probably know as much as you do at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller is commander of NATO\u2019s Resolute Support Mission and United States Force\u2013Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are four Air Force E-11As, which carry the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node, in Afghanistan. They are assigned to the 430th Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron \u2014 a geographically separated unit of the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing headquartered at Bagram Airfield \u2014 and operate solely out of Kandahar Airfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BACN is a communications relay that is hosted either on the Bombardier E-11A or the EQ-4B Global Hawk. It\u2019s used by the Air Force as a bridge or translator for different assets in the air, ground and surface that can\u2019t normally communicate with each other because they\u2019re using different waveforms or can only communicate within line of sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BACN \u201cis like Wi-Fi in the sky,\u201d explained Capt. Jacob Breth, a 430th EECS pilot, in a November 2018 news release from the 455th AEW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to Afghanistan\u2019s mountainous terrain and lack of existing communication infrastructure, there are serious communication challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n