A US Navy fighter pilot became the first American woman to score an air-to-air combat victory after she downed an attack drone launched by the Houthis, an Iran-backed Shia rebel group based in Yemen.
The pilot — whom the Navy did not identify — belongs to Strike Fighter Squadron 32 and flew an F/A-18 Super Hornet off the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, according to CNN.
Her squadron — nicknamed the “Flying Swordsmen” — flew nearly 1,500 combat missions and amassed more than 3,000 combat hours as part of operations Inherent Resolve and Prosperity Guardian, which targeted both ISIS- and Houthi-led attacks on international shipping, the outlet said.
During the mission, the fighter group fired more than 20 air-to-air missiles against the Houthi drones, according to the Navy.
That led to the female pilot’s momentous kill of a one-way Houthi attack drone, which CNN said is one of dozens launched by the group and sent to assail civilian merchant ships in the Red Sea, among other places.
“During one mission, VFA-32 became home to the first American female pilot to engage and kill an air-to-air contact,” a Navy statement said.
The Swordsmen also led two of seven strikes against Houthi ground targets during the nine-month deployment — and they destroyed various munitions sites and command and control facilities.
Their commanding officer, Jason Hoch, praised the squadron’s performance in “incredibly demanding conditions.”
“We proved over and over again that the flexibility a carrier strike group brings to the fight is unmatched,” Hoch said.
During the campaign, the group — which includes destroyers USS Mason and USS Gravely, as well as the cruiser USS Philippine Sea — launched 155 conventional missiles and 135 Tomahawk cruise missiles at more than 460 Houthi targets in Yemen, CNN said.
Planes from the Eisenhower also fired 60 air-to-air missiles and 420 air-to-surface weapons.
The Houthis say they’re trying to avenge Israel’s invasion of Gaza by attacking Red Sea shipping lanes with missiles and drones.
But the United States and the United Kingdom have fought back against the rebel group, which controls much of Yemen in the Middle East.
The woman pilot’s victory came about three decades after Lt. Kara Hultgreen became the first carrier-based female fighter pilot in the Navy when she flew the legendary F-14 Tomcat off the USS Abraham Lincoln, CNN said.
Female aviators have been on the Eisenhower since 1994.
