Air Force captain becomes first woman in service history to receive Silver Star as crews honored for drone fight. The assault was the Air Force’s largest air-to-air engagement in five decades. Over 60 pilots, crew and ground troops faced hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles.
On Nov. 12, 30 fighter pilots and airmen were recognized for missions during the largest air-to-air enemy engagement in over 50 years, according to the Air Force. The crew of one F-15E, pilot Maj. Benjamin Coffey and weapon systems officer Capt. Lacie Hester, were awarded the nation’s third-highest valor award, the Silver Star.
With that award, Hester is the first woman in the Air Force to receive the Silver Star and the 10th woman in the Department of Defense’s history. Together, the Air Force said Coffey and Hester’s squadron shot down 70 drones and three ballistic missiles.
“It takes a high-performing team with high-performing individuals to be able to find these things to begin with and then to engage it,” Coffey said in a press release.
