How did secret CIA tool find missing F-15E airman in Iran?

‘If your heart is beating, we will find you.’ This line might look pretty simple and full of medical rationale, but it actually worked out on the battlefield.

Iran shot down a multirole US F-15E fighter jet, worth $31 million, on Friday, April 3, 2026.

One pilot was located soon after the jet was shot down by the IRGC, but the second crew member could not be located on the same day, which led CIA to a prolonged operation.

Amid the heightened tension, the CIA used a futuristic new tool called “Ghost Murmur” to locate and rescue the missing second airman who was shot down in southern Iran.

How does this black-budget tech work?

As per a report that appeared in the New York Post on April 7, the off-the-books technology uses long-range quantum magnetometry to locate the electromagnetic fingerprint of a human heartbeat.

Then after receiving the signals, the technology matches the data with AI software to isolate the signature from background noise.

It was the tool’s first use in the field by the U.S. premium intelligence agency CIA, and was also hinted at during a White House briefing by President Trump and CIA spy chief John Ratcliffe on Monday, April 6, 2026.

During Monday’s briefing, Ratcliffe said that on Saturday morning the spy agency “achieved our primary objective by finding and providing confirmation that one of America’s best and bravest was alive and concealed in a mountain crevice—still invisible to the enemy, but not the CIA.”

Ratcliffe added, “That confirmation was relayed by Secretary (of War Pete) Hegseth to the president, and the operation quickly moved to the execution phase.”