US pilots detail challenges faced during Iran's Operation True Promise
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F-15 pilots recount to CNN their struggles the night of Iran's Operation True Promise in April, detailing high risks and low levels of preparedness.
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An Israeli Air Force F-15 warplane flies near the southern occupied territories in June 2023 (AP)
When F-15 fighter pilot Maj. Benjamin "Irish" Coffey took to the skies one night last spring, he never imagined running out of missiles while partaking in a mission to counter Iranian Operation True Promise in April.
The operation turned out to be far more intense than the US military had anticipated.
Coffey and his weapons systems officer, Capt. Lacie "Sonic" Hester, were tasked with using whatever means necessary to repel the assault and told CNN of their plan at the time to fly as low as possible, using their aircraft’s gun in total darkness to target barely visible threats.
Despite their efforts, they didn’t succeed.
"You feel the terrain rush by, and you realize how close you are to the ground," Coffey said. "The risk was just too high to try again."
F-15 fighter pilots, weapons officers, and ground crew who participated in the mission described feeling overwhelmed during the US Air Force's first real test against a large-scale, sustained drone strike. The pilots flew for hours that night, while chaos unfolded at a US military base in the Middle East, with air defenses intercepting Iranian missiles and drones overhead and personnel seeking shelter in bunkers.
Air Force personnel, like many around the world, had been preparing for an Iranian retaliation following "Israel's" killing of several IRGC members in Syria. However, as Capt. Lacie "Sonic" Hester revealed that when they were briefed about the mission, they still weren’t certain if it would be a real threat or just another routine flight.
F-15 pilot Lt. Col. Timothy "Diesel" Causey added that the pilots hadn't had much practice for such a high-stakes mission, adding to the difficulty of that night.
The F-15 fighter planes' primary weapon against the drones, air-to-air missiles, were quickly depleted during the mission, as the F-15E Strike Eagle can carry only eight missiles at a time. "We ran out of missiles quickly...20 minutes, maybe," said Lt. Col. Curtis "Voodoo" Culver, an F-15 pilot.
Once the missiles were exhausted, the pilots faced a much more dangerous challenge—landing at the US military base while Iranian missiles and drones, intercepted by the base's Patriot air defense systems, exploded overhead and sent debris onto the runways.
Some planes, including Coffey and Hester's, were forced to land with a "hung missile"—an emergency situation where a missile is launched but fails to fire.
Meanwhile, the base had virtually gone into lockdown, suggesting an impending attack.
“Missiles and drones are flying over base, and they’re being intercepted over base, so the alarm red goes off,” according to Causey.
As pilots attempted to land at the base, they noticed explosions in the air and contacted F-15 pilot Maj. Clayton "Rifle" Wicks, who was overseeing the planes' ground operations at the time.
"Really all we could tell them was stay airborne as long as you can, with the gas that you have," Wicks told CNN, recalling how they could not divert because there was no knowledge of what was happening at divert airfields.
"If stuff is blowing up over our heads, very likely stuff is blowing up there too."
