Two F-16s from the Colorado Air National Guard’s 140th Wing were scrambled from Buckley Air Force Base on Aug. 28 to escort a civilian international flight after an emergency on board, a spokeswoman said. NORAD alerted the wing of a level three disturbance—life-threatening situation—aboard a flight from Las Vegas to Frankfurt, Germany, around 6 p.m., Capt. Kinder Blacke said. The F-16s met up with the plane and shadowed it to Denver International Airport, where it landed, Blacke said. A spokesman for Condor Airlines in Germany told the Associated Press the pilot of the plane asked for assistance because of an unruly passenger. A Denver television news station reported the disturbance was caused by a model from Europe who wanted to be seated with her cat. The woman was arrested for overstaying her visa, the station reported.
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.