An Air Force officer receives a silver star after shooting down an Iranian drone

The Air Force officer became the first woman after her to earn the Silver Star F-15E Strike Eagle the pilot arranged to shoot down more than eighty Iranian suicide drones that were launched against Israel in April.

Air Force Captain Lacie “Sonic” Hester, an F-15E Strike Eagle weapons systems officer and her pilot, Air Force Maj. Benjamin “Irish” Coffey, received the nation’s third-highest award for valor after coordinating U.S. air defense against an Iranian attack.

Night of the Silver Star

On April 13, Iran launched a massive missile and drone attack on Israel. More than 300 ballistic missiles and suicide drones flew over Israeli cities. The attack was in response to an Israeli airstrike in Damascus, Syria, that had killed a senior Iranian paramilitary officer a few days earlier.

US military contributed naval and air resources to help shoot down the incoming munitions.

“We have been on alert for approximately a week, week and a half up until this point,” Air Force Maj. Clayton “Rifle” Wicks said in a statement. interview. “We knew there would be some large-scale attack. We didn’t really know how big and when exactly.

That night two Air Force officers who received Silver Star They were flying on board their own F-15E Strike Eagle as commanders of airborne missions, coordinating and directing other fighters towards incoming missiles and drones.

“Even though intelligence gave us the numbers of drones we might have expected, it was still surprising to see all of them,” Hester said in an Air Force interview.

But the number of incoming Iranian drones was so large that Hester and Coffey used up all their rockets and had to shoot down the suicide drones with a gun.

“You come across a message that simply says. . . just like the Viper 72 is a “Winchester”, meaning they no longer have missiles. They’re out of bullets. They have nothing,” Wicks added. “I remember getting chills and the hairs on the back of my neck standing up because for the first time I thought, ‘Oh my God.’ Command and control can’t keep up with the number of missiles being fired and what’s happening. And that is the only message they received.”

Overall, the defense was successful, and over 99 percent of the incoming munitions were shot down. Air Force fighters taking part in the defense, shot down about 80 suicide drones.

Hester became the first woman in the Air Force to ever receive the Silver Star and just like that 10. woman receive the third highest decoration in the entire army.

But it wasn’t just Hester and Coffey who were recognized for their actions in countering Iran’s ballistic missile and drone attack. In total, members of the 494th Fighter Squadron and 494th Fighter Squadron received two Silver Stars, six Distinguished Flying Crosses with combat device, four Distinguished Flying Crosses with combat device, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Bronze Stars, seven Distinguished Flying Crosses and commendation medals outer space and seven medals for achievements in air and space.

About the author

Stavros Atlamazoglou is an experienced defense journalist specializing in special operations and Hellenic Army veteran (national service in the 575th Marine Battalion and Army Headquarters). He earned a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and a master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His works have been featured in Business expert, SandboxxAND SOFREP.

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