For the first time, USAF sends the RQ-1 Predator remotely piloted aircraft on flights in a combat zone, flying reconnaissance over Serbia during Allied Force. (The Army employed the ACTD Predator over Bosnia for Deliberate Force in 1995.)
Less than a day after arriving in the Middle East, F-15E Strike Eagles from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. defended Israel from an Iranian attack in April 2024. DUDE flight, four F-15Es from the 335th Fighter Squadron, downed two dozen Iranian drones in roughly 45 minutes.