The CSAR mission became a formal assignment for the F-16 earlier this year as a result of Aerospace Expeditionary Force rotations and the lack of dedicated searchandrescueaircraft.
The Pentagon said on Monday it had dispatched a surveillance aircraftand a searchandrescue team to help Brazilian and French aircraft as the hunt for Flight AF447 continued in the dark.
If the worst case happens, however, and an aircraft goes down, a combat searchandrescue mission kicks into high gear to extract the aircrew from hostile territory quickly and safely.