F-15Es of the 335th Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., excelled in a recent Combat Hammer weapons evaluation hosted at Hill AFB, Utah, doubling the average “hit” percentage on graded strike sorties, according to unit officials. “Airmen built, loaded, and employed 50 inert and live bombs, along with several thousand rounds of 20 mm bullets,” said Capt. Brandon Glass, 335th Maintenance Unit officer in charge. “We achieved 100 percent of our sorties with zero ground aborts. This is a rare feat for F-15Es,” he added. The unit’s maintainers crowned the achievement, turning in the “best maintenance performance in the history of Combat Hammer” receiving “excellent” ratings across the board, states Seymour Johnson’s Aug. 27 release. Combat Hammer grades units on every aspect of their air-to-ground weapons maintenance, handling, loading, and employment, with the goal of optimizing the units’ performance in combat. A Seymour Johnson contingent of 12 F-15Es and 250 airmen deployed to Hill from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20. (Seymour Johnson report by A1C Mariah Tolbert)
NATO Scrambles Fighter in Newest Response to Russian Drones
Sept. 16, 2025
NATO scrambled its first fighter Sept. 13 under its new plan to bolster its defenses against Russian air incursions that was put into place after an array of Russian drones flew into Polish airspace last week, the officials from the alliance’s military command said.
