Posted on 10/19/2015 1:14:51 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A U.S. F-16 was struck by enemy fire in eastern Afghanistan in a rare instance of an advanced fighter jet coming under attack by insurgents, military officials have confirmed to AFP.
The $100 million jet sustained significant damage which forced it to jettison its fuel tanks and munitions before returning to base, officials said.
The attack occurred last Tuesday in the Sayid Karam district of eastern Paktia province, much of which is under control of the Taliban. The group had posted a statement on Twitter that evening saying they had downed an enemy jet.
(Excerpt) Read more at english.alarabiya.net ...
opening scene of Air America (1990)
BS until it is reported on F-16.net
And, since when is a Viper $100m?
I wonder if the pilot will get a medal of some sort.
My BIL piloted the first B-52 into Baghdad during Desert Storm and came back with bullet/shrapnel/whatever holes in the fuselage of the plane, for which he was awarded a medal.
Thats some lucky shooting.
As a civilian, i would be TERRIFIED if my plane was hit with bullets.
but the military guys here know better when a medal should be received.
i think a low level medal isn’t the worst thing in the world for flying a plane that had bullet/shrapnel in it on return.
Brand new, off the showroom floor, that's what they run.
http://www.f-16.net/f-16-news-article4986.html
October 19, 2015 (by Josh Smith) - An American F-16 fighter jet was hit by small-arms fire last week in eastern Afghanistan, forcing the pilot to jettison fuel tanks and weapons before safely landing at a base, the U.S. military confirmed on Monday.
Oh, and:
I think the pilot’s perspective is that he’s rec’d his “award”...he’s back at base telling a tale vs. either being in Taliban hands or dead.
Must be a clay pigeon shooter.
Just got the lead right.
It’s the USAF. He’ll get so much bling he’s gonna look like an Italian Field Marshal.....
Thinking of Benghazi right about now...I wonder...
Firing into the right part of the sky while the F-16 takes off from it’s base miles away is the hard part
It was difficult to hit 300mph aircraft flying 100 ft off the ground with small arms in WWII.
What was it doing flying so low, anyway?
Small arms fire has always been a problem. With hundreds firing someone could get lucky. However, we were at Dry Tortugas National park, looking at an old cannon from the Civil War era when we got buzzed by a jet on some sort of training or testing mission. IT WAS COMPLETELY INVISIBLE!
It must have been 500 ft above Fort Jefferson’s wall, the wall we were standing on, but you could only hear it crash past us. It was amazing beyond words. You could see, however, a missile trail at high altitude but that was the only thing visible.
So, the Russians aren’t the only ones developing new technologies. I think we still waste too much of our military budget on things like the army of Iraq, for example. But there are amazing things yet to be discovered.
My Dad told me many years ago that he he remembered a time when they only awarded the Purple Heart to KIA, or gravely wounded, but I thought he said killed in action.
Scary Kerry got one for wood splinter in his finger, didn’t he?
LOL!
It is a job for the A10, really.
He’s probably going to catch all kinds of crap from his fellow Viper drivers for being the “one” who got hit by enemy ground fire.
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