During the months that the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier operated in the Red Sea, a pilot from Strike Fighter Squadron 32 became the first American woman to achieve an air-to-air kill against a Houthi drone. The deployment of the Carrier Strike Group in the Middle East was tasked not only with protecting commercial shipping and civilian vessels at sea but also with intercepting unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and missiles from rebel forces in Yemen.

The aviator, flying an F/A-18F Super Hornet from Attack Squadron 32, was part of the carrier strike group sent to the Middle East in October 2023. While the exact timing of the kill is unclear, the carrier strike group’s deployment saw near-daily engagements, which have been marked as “kill marks” on the aircraft of the Carrier Air Wing.

According to the Navy, the Strike Fighter Squadron 32 (known as the “Fighting Swordsmen”) fired over 20 air-to-air missiles at drones. The squadron also launched about 120 air-to-surface weapons in airstrikes against Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The aircraft assigned to the group fired 60 air-to-air missiles and 420 air-to-surface missiles and bombs. The Navy also reported that at least one F/A-18G Growler was shot down.

The anonymous aviator is the first American female military pilot to achieve an air-to-air kill, but she is not the first woman in history to do so. During World War II, a Soviet pilot achieved this distinction. Sources debate whether it was Lieutenant Lydia Litvyak or Lieutenant Valeriya Khomyakova who was the first to secure an aerial victory, but both achieved confirmed kills. Litvyak became one of the two Soviet women to reach “ace” status during the war, achieving at least five aerial kills before her death in 1943, though the exact number is also debated.

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