‘Ran out of missiles in 20 minutes and…’: How US pilots fought hundreds of Iranian missiles, drones in pitch darkness

The Iran-Israel shadow war took a turn for the worse in April this year as Tehran launched an an unprecedented large-scale attack. More than 300 drones and missiles were fired overnight at Tel Aviv with an US-led coalition helping to intercept ‘99%’ of the weapons.

“That night, the mission was to shoot down drones with whatever weapons we had available to protect our ally. We ran out of missiles pretty quickly…20 minutes maybe,” Lt. Col. Curtis “Voodoo” Culver told CNN.

Iran had vowed retaliation for what it called an Israeli strike on its Damascus consulate on April 1 that killed seven officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Officials in the country dubbed the strike on April 13 a punishment for “Israeli crimes”. 

Meanwhile the United States has pledged ironclad support for Israel and moved a vast array of military assets to the Middle East in recent months to deter attacks by Tehran or the Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

American F-15 fighter pilots however found themselves at a significant disadvantage during the clash — operating in total darkness against a barely visible target. They were also combating a far larger strike than the US military had anticipated. It was at this time that fighter pilot Major Benjamin “Irish” Coffey and weapons systems officer Captain Lacie “Sonic” Hester came up with a risky plan of action.

The duo recalled flying dangerously close to an Iranian drone — well below the minimum safe altitude for the F-15 Strike Eagle — and trying to use a gun against the barely visible target in total darkness.

"You feel the terrain rush, you feel yourself getting closer and closer to the ground. The risk was just too high to try again,” Coffey told CNN.

Iran and Israel have now traded missile strikes for almost a year amid soaring tensions over Israeli wars against its allies — Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The strikes have brought to the surface their years-long shadow war and fuelled fears of a wider Middle East conflict.

(With inputs from agencies)