THE Aviation awarded the Silver Star to an aviator for the first time after her role in shooting down more than 80 Iranian drones that were part of the major Iranian missile and drone attack on Israel in mid-April.

NOTE: The video is from a previous report.

This historic award, the nation’s third highest honor for valor to a female aviator, comes at a time when the role of women in ground combat units is at the forefront due to critical comments from Pete Hegseth, the choice of President-elect Donald Trump to be the next Secretary of Defense.

Captain Lacie “Sonic” Hester, F-15E weapons systems officer instructor, is the first Air Force woman to receive the Silver Star and only the 10th military woman to receive the award. Its pilot, Major Benjamin “Irish” Coffey, also received the Silver Star on Tuesday for his role in coordinating fire from their two-seat fighter, then using all of their missiles and their fighter’s Gatling guns to shoot down some drones.

Tuesday’s awards ceremony at their Royal Air Force Base Lakenheath in the United Kingdom honored the men and women of the 494th Fighter Squadron and 494th Fighter Generation Squadron with two Silver Stars, six Distinguished Flying Crosses with the symbol for valor, four Distinguished Flying Crosses with the combat device, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, two bronze stars, seven air commendation medals and space and seven medals for excellence in air and space.

On the night of April 13, Iran launched more than 300 ballistic missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation for an Israeli missile strike in Damascus, Syria, that killed a top Iranian commander. U.S. military aircraft and ships helped Israel destroy 99 percent of the weapons Iran fired at Israel during the attack.

The actions of US Air Force units involved in the downing of approximately 80 Iranian drones have been described as the largest US-led air-to-air enemy engagement in more than 50 years. Shortly after the attack, President Joe Biden contacted the commanders of the two units involved, the 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron and the 335th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, to commend the actions of their units.

One of those commanders was Lt. Col. Timothy “Diesel” Causey, commander of the 494th Fighter Squadron.

“We all fell into a rhythm of execution: calling, shooting and confirming that the target was destroyed before moving on to the next task we needed to accomplish to keep everyone safe,” Causey said in an article of the US Air Force about this week’s ceremony.

On the night of April 13, his squadron’s F-15Es flew 14 sorties from an undisclosed base in the Middle East to shoot down incoming drones. Patriot air defense missiles were also fired at the base to intercept the drones. Some of these fighters had to come back and refuel before going back up to engage more drones, some of which occurred so close to this base that some of the fallen debris landed on this base.

“Although the intelligence provided the number of (one-sided attack) “We might have expected to see drones, but it was still surprising to see them all,” Hester said in an Air Force interview.

That night, Coffey and Hester were the airborne mission commanders directing the fighters towards the drones and were also actively engaged in shooting down the drones, resorting to shooting down the drones with their fighters’ Gatling guns after exhausting all their air-air capabilities. aerial missiles.

“It takes a high-performing team with high-performing individuals to be able to find those things initially and then engage them,” Coffey said.

Among those receiving awards this week were many members of the ground squadron aviators who helped the fighters fly in and out, especially since some of them experienced in-flight emergencies.

Hester’s receipt of the Silver Star came the same week Hegseth drew attention for his recent comments on a podcast in which he criticized the decision to allow women to serve in ground combat units.

“I’m just saying we shouldn’t have women in combat roles,” Hegseth said last week on “The Shawn Ryan Show.”

The process of integrating women into combat units has been gradual and began in 1993, when Defense Secretary Les Aspin issued an order allowing women to fly fighter jets and bombers in combat.

But women were not allowed to serve in ground combat units until 2013, when Defense Secretary Leon Panetta overturned the ban, which was later strengthened in 2015 by Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who paved the way for women to fill jobs still limited to men, including some in special operations.

On the podcast, Hegseth made a distinction between women serving as pilots and those serving in ground combat units.

“I’m not talking about the drivers,” Hegseth said. “I’m talking about a physical type of work, a labor-intensive job. … I’m talking about something where strength is a differentiator. Pilots? Give me a female pilot all day. I don’t mind that. no problem.