A U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet struck Islamic State positions in Iraq late last month, the first time in nearly two-and-a-half years that a carrier-based fighter jet has conducted such ops in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.
The multi-million-dollar, state-of-the-art aircraft struck the guerrilla forces Sept. 23 after launching from the aircraft carrier Nimitz, which was underway in the Arabian Gulf at the time, according to U.S. 5th Fleet spokeswoman Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich.
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“The last such strike was by USS Theodore Roosevelt in March 2018,” she told Navy Times.
Nimitz and its strike group deployed from San Diego in June.
What IS targets the Super Hornet struck remains unclear.
OIR officials did not respond to requests for more information on the operation.
But Army Col. Wayne Marotto, an OIR spokesman, tweeted that a strike was conducted on “Daesh hideouts” on that date.
Daesh is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.
Geoff is the managing editor of Military Times, but he still loves writing stories. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan extensively and was a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. He welcomes any and all kinds of tips at geoffz@militarytimes.com.
