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

By Brad Lendon, CNN

(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.

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.

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.

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.

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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