• Navy aviator scores first air-to-air victory by a US female fighter pil

    From a425couple@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jul 28 19:17:17 2024
    XPost: sci.military.naval, soc.history.war.misc, or.politics

    (Hmmm, am I the only one that wonders what the cost of the
    US air-to-air missiles are compared to the cost of the
    Houthi drones ?
    Also, the cost of our standard missiles and Tomahawk
    land-attack missiles.)

    from https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/22/middleeast/us-navy-first-air-to-air-kill-female-fighter-pilot-intl-hnk-ml/index.html?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc

    Navy aviator scores first air-to-air victory by a US female fighter pilot
    By Brad Lendon, CNN
    3 minute read
    Updated 12:53 AM EDT, Mon July 22, 2024

    An F/A-18 Super Hornet launches off the flight deck of the aircraft
    carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt on July 5, 2024, in the South China Sea.
    Seaman Aaron Haro Gonzalez/U.S. Navy/AP
    CNN

    A US Navy fighter pilot has become the first American woman to score a
    victory in air-to-air combat, the service has revealed.

    The female pilot, who was not named in the Navy release, was flying an
    F/A-18 Super Hornet off the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower as
    part of Strike Fighter Squadron 32, nicknamed the “Flying Swordsmen.”

    The aerial victory came against a one-way Houthi attack drone, one of
    dozens the Yemen-based group has deployed against civilian merchant
    ships in the Red Sea and nearby waters in reaction to the destruction in
    Gaza during Israel’s war against Hamas, a release from Carrier Strike
    Group 2 said.

    screengrab true confidence ship
    VIDEO
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    The squadron amassed more than 3,000 combat hours in flying almost 1,500
    combat missions as part of operations Inherent Resolve and Prosperity
    Guardian, the former targeting ISIS and the latter stood up in December
    2023 to respond to the Houthi-led attacks on international shipping.

    The Swordsmen, one of four strike fighter squadrons that deployed on the Eisenhower, fired more than 20 air-to-air missiles against the Houthi
    drones during those missions, the Navy said.

    “During one mission, VFA-32 became home to the first American female
    pilot to engage and kill an air-to-air contact,” it said.

    The first air-to-air victory by a female pilot comes 30 years after Lt.
    Kara Hultgreen became the first carrier-based female fighter pilot in
    the Navy, flying the F-14 Tomcat off the USS Abraham Lincoln that year.
    Female aviators also joined the Eisenhower in 1994.

    US Navy fighter pilot Kara Hultgreen poses with a Grumman F-14 Tomcat,
    in an undated photo. AP/File
    The Eisenhower-led carrier strike group returned to US bases on July 14
    after a nine-month deployment, an exceptionally lengthy deployment for a carrier. Normal deployments last about six to eight months.

    An F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet parked on the USS Dwight D.
    Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the Red Sea.
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    Cmdr. Jason Hoch, commanding officer of VFA-32, praised the squadron’s performance in “incredibly demanding conditions” during the deployment.

    Besides the air-to-air encounters, the Swordsmen led two of seven
    strikes against Houthi ground targets in Yemen, destroying munitions and command and control facilities, the release said.

    “We proved over and over again that the flexibility a carrier strike
    group brings to the fight is unmatched,” Hoch said.

    Overall, Carrier Strike Group 2, which besides the Eisenhower included
    the guided missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea and the destroyers USS
    Mason and USS Gravely, hit more than 460 Houthi targets in Yemen,
    according to the Navy.

    The group’s warships fired 155 standard missiles and 135 Tomahawk
    land-attack missiles during those strikes, while the strike group’s
    aircraft fired 60 air-to-air missiles and released 420 air-to-surface
    weapons, the Navy said.

    Sailors from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group assist
    mariners rescued from the M/V Tutor, which was attacked by Houthis, in
    the Red Sea, on June 15.
    RELATED ARTICLE
    Ship attacked by Houthi rebels believed to have sunk in Red Sea
    The Houthis are an Iran-backed Shia rebel group that controls swathes of
    Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Middle East and a nation that
    has been ravaged by years of civil war.

    Since Hamas’ attacks on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent ground and air offenses in Gaza, the Houthis say they have been seeking revenge against
    Israel for its military campaign by targeting Red Sea shipping as well
    as Israel itself with drones and missiles.

    Both the United Kingdom and the United States have responded to the
    attacks on shipping by carrying out strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
    Over the weekend, Israel struck inside Yemen for the first time
    following a deadly drone attack launched by Houthi rebels on Tel Aviv.

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  • From Sam@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jul 29 12:58:42 2024
    XPost: sci.military.naval, soc.history.war.misc, or.politics

    On Sun, 28 Jul 2024 19:17:17 -0700, a425couple <a425couple@hotmail.com>
    wrote:

    (Hmmm, am I the only one that wonders what the cost of the
    US air-to-air missiles are compared to the cost of the
    Houthi drones ?
    Also, the cost of our standard missiles and Tomahawk
    land-attack missiles.)


    Yeah, once you spend the money on munitions you need to use them or dump
    them. When I was in the Army in the 1980's we used 8 inch and 155mm
    artillery rounds that were made during the Korean war.

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