As his F-15 Strike Eagle landed at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan last week, Lt. Col. Dave Iverson became the 15th pilot to have 3,000 flight hours on record in the Strike Eagle. SSgt. Craig Seals reports that the director of operations for the 492nd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron was surprised when a bunch of his fellow squadron members and pilots came to congratulate him on the historic achievement. Iverson’s flight hours include 300 in combat; approximately 150 have been spent supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Raytheon, a division of defense giant RTX, recently announced a multiyear deal with the Pentagon to increase annual production of the Air Force’s primary dogfighting missile by more than 50 percent from two years ago.


