Navy F/A-18F pilot becomes first American woman to score air-to-air kill
Story by Nicholas Slayton • 10h
A female Naval aviator with the Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 32 became the first woman in the U.S. military to earn an aerial victory. The aviator, who the Navy has not named, shot down one of the one-way attack drones fired by Houthi forces against commercial ships passing through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, using an F/A-18F Super Hornet.
Strike Fighter Squadron 32 deployed on the aircraft carrier the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower when the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group was sent to the Middle East in October 2023. The group, consisting of the carrier, its support ships and a carrier wing, took part in missions to intercept missiles and one-way attack drones fired at merchant ships.
It’s not clear when specifically the fighter pilot scored that aerial victory. The military considers downing aerial drones as an aerial victory. It’s not a new distinction — the Royal Air Force credited shot down Nazi V-1 rockets as kills during World War II.
“The success of the entire squadron over the past nine months is a testament to all the members of the command and their friends and family at home that support them,” Cmdr. Jason Hoch, leader of the squadron, said in a Navy release. “I couldn’t be prouder of the Swordsmen’s performance day-in and day-out in incredibly demanding conditions. We proved over and over again that the flexibility a carrier strike group brings to the fight is unmatched, and that is solely due to the highly trained and motivated Sailors who go above and beyond the call of duty each and every day.”
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