An Ariane V rocket lifting off from Kourou, French Guiana, boosts into orbit the SES-2 communications satellite, which hosts USAF’s first payload on a commercial satellite. The experimental Air Force payload, dubbed Commercially Hosted Infrared Payload (CHIRP), also is the first wide-field-of- view infrared staring payload in space.
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.