The Department of Defense announced Wednesday that 1st Lt. Joseph Helton, 24, of Monroe Ga., died Sept. 8 near Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device went off near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 6th Security Forces Squadron at MacDill AFB, Fla. The St. Petersburg Times reported Tuesday the death of an airman from MacDill, but the Pentagon had withheld his name pending notification of family.
As the threat of Iranian-made drones grew, the Air Force rushed last year to equip F-15E Strike Eagles in the Middle East with a cheap, cost-effective way of defeating them. The service fielded the new capability in roughly a week.
