US Air Force honors crews that thwarted Iran’s April missile, drone attack on Israel
History made as first woman is decorated with force’s third-highest award for valor; American jets downed some 80 drones in ‘largest air-to-air enemy engagement in over 50 years’
The US Air Force has honored pilots, aircrews and support personnel who helped thwart a massive Iranian-led rocket and drone attack on Israel earlier this year.
Airmen from the 494th Fighter Squadron and 494 Fighter Generation Squadron were recognized for their activities in intercepting hundreds of attack drones and rockets fired by Iran and from Yemen at Israel on April 13-14.
History was made during the ceremony — held last week at Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) Lakenheath station — when for the first time, a woman serving in the American Air Force was decorated with a Silver Star, the force’s third-highest award for valor, according to a Friday statement.
F-15E jets from RAF Lakenheath were “vital during the fight that intercepted and engaged aerial threats” and “fought in the largest air-to-air enemy engagement in over 50 years,” the statement said.
The jets, which though based in the UK had been deployed to the US Central Command’s region of responsibility, which includes Israel, flew 154 sorties during the night.
US President Joe Biden personally praised the service personnel in a direct phone call during the event.
The ceremony saw Air Force members receive “two Silver Stars, six Distinguished Flying Crosses with the valor device, four Distinguished Flying Crosses with the combat device, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Bronze Stars Medals, seven Air and Space Commendation Medals and seven Air and Space Achievement Medals,” the statement said.
The pair of stars went to F-15E instructor pilot US Air Force Maj. Benjamin Coffey and to F-15E instructor weapon systems officer US Air Force Capt. Lacie Hester.
Hester is the first woman in the US Air Force to receive the honor and only the 10th woman in the Department of Defense to have the decoration.
“The team engaged the enemy multiple times throughout the night despite having severe aircraft emergencies and while under falling debris at the expeditionary base caused by hostile fire from the enemy,” the statement said.
“Additionally, at great personal risk, Coffey and Hester engaged low-altitude one-way attack UAVs in the complete darkness of night with the air-to-air gatling gun of the F-15E after they expended all their air-to-air missiles,” it explained.
“We all fell into an execution rhythm: call, shoot, and confirm the target was destroyed before we moved on to the next task we had to accomplish to keep everyone safe,” said US Air Force Lt. Col. Timothy Causey, the 494th Fighter Squadron commander.
The statement revealed further details about the events of the Iranian-led attack, including that the US forces destroyed more than 80 attack drones from Iran or Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
In April, Iran launched over 300 missiles and drones at Israel in response to the killing of two senior army generals in a Damascus strike that Tehran blamed on Israel.
The wave was intercepted by Israeli air defenses alongside the US-led coalition of regional forces that included British and French warplanes, as well as, reportedly, intelligence and radar resources from some Arab nations. A few missiles made it through the defenses, causing very minor damage at an air base, while a young Bedouin girl was seriously injured by falling shrapnel from an interception.
Israel carried out only a limited response to the attack, but on October 1 Iran again fired a massive barrage of missiles that sent most of Israel into bomb shelters, killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank, and caused damage in residential areas and at military bases — although the IDF said that the attack had no operational impact.
Israel’s retaliation to that attack was hours of strikes almost a month later that took out Iranian air defense systems defending vital energy infrastructure as well as rocket and drone manufacturing sites, and reportedly a nuclear research site. Iran has vowed to respond to the attack.
The clashes came as a spillover from the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip that began on October 7, 2023, when Iran-backed Palestinian terror group Hamas led a massive attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, amid atrocities including the taking of hostages. The war has since spread to multiple fronts.
Agencies contributed to this report.
