Lt. Col. Robert Sandford, an F-22 pilot with Virginia Air National Guard’s 192nd Fighter Wing at Langley AFB, Va., on May 17 surpassed 4,000 total flight hours in his career. He is currently chief of standardization and evaluation for the Air Guard unit, which operates F-22s together with Langley’s active duty 1st FW. He was commissioned in the Air Guard in 1986 and formerly flew A-7s and F-16s. “I never set out to amass thousands of hours, I just love to fly,” he said, commenting on his milestone. He added, “I’m very fortunate that I’ve been able to do what I love all these years.” Sandford says he plans to keep flying F-22s “as long as possible.” He recently volunteered for a deployment of Langley F-22s to Guam. “I’m going to stay until they kick me out,” he said, laughing. (Langley report by A1C Jason J. Brown)
7 Air Force B-2s Drop 14 Bunker-Buster Bombs on Iran
June 22, 2025
The U.S. military struck three Iranian nuclear sites in the early hours of June 22 local time in Operation Midnight Hammer, intended to shut down Iran’s nuclear program and not harm the country’s leadership. U.S. Air Force B-2 bombers and submarine-launched cruise missiles struck three sites: Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.