"Heartbeats" led CIA to downed U.S. airman in Iran...secret tech dubbed 'Ghost Murmur'

[Financial News] "The dramatic rescue of a U.S. service member shot down in the Islamic Republic of Iran within 48 hours was made possible by a top-secret technology of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that can detect a heartbeat from tens of kilometers away."
The New York Post, citing multiple sources including U.S. officials, reported on the 7th (local time) that a technology known as "Ghost Murmur" was used in the field for the first time during the rescue mission. The system tracks the electromagnetic signatures of human heartbeats using long-range quantum magnetometry.
Data collected in this way is fed into artificial intelligence (AI) software, which separates the U.S. service member’s heartbeat from surrounding noise.
One source said, "As long as the right conditions are in place and the heart is still beating, we will find him," adding, "It is like hearing a voice in a stadium, except in this case the 'stadium' is a desert spanning tens of thousands of square kilometers."
This technology was developed by Skunk Works, the highly classified advanced development arm of Lockheed Martin, and this mission marked its first operational use.
Earlier, two crew members aboard a McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle shot down by Iranian forces were each rescued after being isolated for up to 48 hours, allowing the U.S. military to complete one of the most challenging missions in its history.
In the second operation, which rescued the weapons systems officer, a total of 155 aircraft were mobilized, including four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 aerial refueling tankers, and 13 rescue aircraft. The officer had evaded Iranian search teams by hiding in mountainous terrain for nearly 48 hours, so even if rescue forces were deployed, pinpointing his location was described as being akin to "finding a needle in a haystack" in the desert.
The New York Post reported that even after he activated a Combat Survivor Evader Locator (CSEL) device developed by Boeing, search teams were still unable to determine his exact position. As a result, the CIA decided to deploy the Ghost Murmur technology, which had been in the testing phase, and sources said the moment the system located the officer during the two-day rescue effort became the "decisive turning point."
One source explained the situation at the time by saying, "He had to step out of his hiding spot to send a signal."
It remains unclear exactly how far away his heartbeat was detected. However, President Donald John Trump said at a press conference on the rescue operation on the 6th that the officer was found "40 miles (64 kilometers) away."
Another source noted that the operation took place in a "clean environment" for detection, with little electromagnetic interference, almost no other human signals, and body heat standing out clearly against the desert at night. Ghost Murmur is reportedly a candidate technology for future integration into the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II (F-35) fighter. Lockheed Martin has not made any official comment on the system.
At the press conference, President Trump said, "It was like finding a needle in a haystack," and added, "Locating this pilot was an incredible achievement. The CIA played a major role in finding this tiny dot."

june@fnnews.com Reporter Lee Seok-woo Reporter