Lt. Col. Donald Cornwell, Lt. Col. Dylan Wells, Capt. Leigh Larkin, and Capt. Nicholas Tsougas receive the 2010 Mackay Trophy for the most meritorious flight in 2010, marking their heroic actions on a combat mission over Afghanistan April 6, 2010. Flying F-15E Strike Eagles with call signs Dude-01 and Dude-02, the four performed show-of-force passes and released six Joint Direct Attack Munitions to protect a task force of some 30 coalition troops under attack by approximately 100 Taliban fighters in Bala Morgab. The F-15E strikes killed more than 80 Taliban, saving the task force members’ lives.
The Collaborative Combat Aircraft will be operational in the late 2020s, several years before the Next-Generation Air Dominance family of systems, Air Force officials told the House Armed Services tactical aviation panel. The CCAs will first be “shooters,” then electronic warfare platforms, then sensors, in that order, they added.