“Weapons Away”:
Lt. Col. Jim Hecker dropped the first bomb from an operational F/A-22 Raptor, entering USAF record books, announced USAF officials on Oct. 21, three days after the fact. Hecker, commander of the 27th Fighter Squadron, Langley AFB, Va., dropped an inert 1,000-pound Joint Direct Attack Munition against a dummy target at the Utah Test and Training Range during Air Combat Command’s first deployment of its F/A-22 squadron. (DR, 10/17/05)
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.