Extraction (military)

"Exfil" redirects here. For other uses, see Exfiltration (disambiguation).

In military tactics, extraction is the process of removing personnel or units from an area; when conducted with stealth in an area controlled by the enemy it is referred to as exfiltration.^[1]

A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter performing an extraction of United States Army troops in Iraq

Exfiltration of a member of the parliament during riots in Nairobi (2017).

An example of a hostile extraction was Battle of Boz Qandahari, in which U.S. Army Special Forces used donkeys to reach their extraction point while under enemy fire.^[2] Another example of an extraction was the joint U.S. Central Intelligence Agency-Canadian government operation to smuggle six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran in 1980 in an operation later known as the Canadian Caper.^[3]

See also

• List of established military terms
• Infiltration tactics
• Landing zone