Air Force Confirms SEAD Role of F-35s in Midnight Hammer

The Air Force F-35As that participated in Operation Midnight Hammer—the June 22 strike against Iranian uranium enrichment and nuclear research facilities—conducted both suppression of enemy air defenses, also called SEAD, and provided fighter cover for the strike force as it departed Iran, the service acknowledged Nov. 24.

The SEAD aspect of the F-35’s role in the operation was implied but not officially detailed previously.

Fighters of the 388th Fighter Wing based out of Hill Air Force Base, Utah, “paved the way” for the flight of seven B-2s that dropped 14 GBU-57 bunker busters that penetrated the hardened, deeply buried targets in Iran, the wing detailed in a pair of press releases. The Air Force said the jets flew from several locations, implementing the Agile Combat Employment model.

The 388th and its reserve associate unit, the 419th Fighter Wing, deployed to the Middle East under U.S. Central Command in March and returned to Utah in September after a history-making six-month deployment.

The Pentagon had previously revealed that 125 aircraft took part in Midnight Hammer, with a strike package that also included F-22s, F-15Es, F-16s, and Tomahawk Land-Attack cruise Missiles. Officials said at the time that the fighter escorts launched some 30 munitions at Iranian surface-to-air systems.

The new Air Force release details how the F-35s of the 388th Fighter Wing “were the first aircraft to penetrate Iranian airspace, suppressing enemy air defenses and escorting the B-2s to target areas.”

“The SEAD mission calls for ‘kicking down the door,’” one release noted, using stealth, electronic warfare, sensors, and targeting systems to knock out potential ground threats to the strike package.

“The effectiveness of this strike validated all of the capabilities of the F-35 we’ve been talking about for years,” Col. Charles Fallon, 388th Fighter Wing commander, said in a statement. The strike package “depended on our pilots and this aircraft to perform, and both proved more than capable.” He said the operation demonstrated the F-35 is “necessary…for today’s fight and tomorrow’s fight, wherever that may be.”

Lt. Col. Aaron Osborne, 34th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron commander, said “we flew hundreds of miles into Iran, escorting the B-2s the entire way. We employed weapons to great effect against multiple surface-to-air missile sites.”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine said in a post-strike briefing that “no enemy shots were fired” at the package. The Air Force release credited that to the stealth capabilities of the B-2s, F-22s and F-35s, as well as “intelligence, cyber operations, and tactics.”

The F-35’s powerful stealth and electronic warfare systems played a key part, Osbourne hinted.

“It was really cool to see the jet do exactly what it was designed to do, while they were trying to target us with some very high high-end systems and they were just unable to,” he said.

After the B-2s dropped their Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs, the F-35s “guarded their exit” from Iranian airspace, the release states.

While the F-35s “were never fired upon” during the mission, “from that point forward, we’re operating under ‘alarm yellow’ and ‘alarm red’ conditions, dispersing aircraft and people, expecting ballistic missile attacks, preparing for casualties and medical evacuations” Osborne reported.

The 388th Fighter Wing release also notes that the F-35As participated in Operation Rough Rider, a campaign of strikes on the Houthi rebels in Yemen from late March through April.  

Osborne noted that “this is the first time anyone has been shot at in 20 years actually carrying out the Wild Weasel mission. It’s the first time we’re carrying novel weapons on the F-35, bombing into tunnels, double-tapping targets with deep-penetration weapons.”

The units also “recorded the first air-to-air kills from an F-35A against one-way attack drones,” the release said. The Navy has reported its F-35Cs shot down such drones.

The SEAD mission was effectively created during the Vietnam War, when F-100Fs, and later F-105Gs and F-4Gs, flew ahead of strike packages, teasing enemy radars into turning on their radars and firing missiles. The “Wild Weasels,” as they came to be known, would then home in on the surface-to-air missile sites and destroy them with Shrike and Standard anti-radiation missiles. By the time of the 1991 Gulf War, the mission was flown by F-4Gs with sophisticated electronic warfare capabilities in addition to kinetic means of destroying enemy SAM sites.

Iraqi radar operators later told coalition debriefers they largely stopped turning on their radars because they knew an AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile would arrive seconds later, with devastating effect.

After that war, the F-4G was retired and the mission migrated to some F-16s, which were fitted with the HARM Targeting System.

The Air Force and Navy are both pursuing the AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile and AARGM-ER, for “extended range,” as the successor to the HARM. The Air Force has not disclosed whether it used the AARGM in the Iranian or Houthi operations, but Navy officials have said the AARGM was used in Yemen.