Operation Midnight Hammer through the eyes of the F-16 Wild Weasel pilots who flew it. This is the firsthand account of the 55th Fighter Squadron and the 20th Fighter Wing. These are the pilots who fly Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses, known as SEAD, the crews who went in first to suppress Iranian air defenses, and the ground support teams who made the mission possible.
Part One covers Operation Rough Rider, the air campaign over Yemen in the spring of 2025 that put these pilots into combat months before Iran. What they learned there is the reason they were ready for what came next.
MISSION & OPERATIONS
SEAD – Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses
DCA – Defensive Counter Air
OCA – Offensive Counter Air
MEZ – Missile Engagement Zone
AOR – Area of Operations
AO – Area of Operations (used interchangeably with AOR in conversation)
LAO – Local Area Orientation (first flight in the Area of Operations)
MPC – Mission Planning Cell (used for daily and large operation planning)
ADVON – Advance Echelon (typically, a small group of representatives from each section of a squadron to forward deploy prior to the entire squadron to establish operations prior).
ICT – Integrated Combat Turn (rapid refueling, re-arming, and preparing a jet to fly again)
WOC – Wing Operations Center
OIR – Operation Inherent Resolve
GWOT – Global War on Terror
WEAPONS & SYSTEMS
AGM-88 HARM – High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (homes in on enemy radar emissions)
AESA – Advanced Electronically Scanned Array Radar
SDB – Small Diameter Bomb
RWR – Radar Warning Receiver
UAS – Unmanned Aerial System
PILOT TERMS & BREVITY
Spike – RWR (Radar Warning Receiver) indication of a radar lock from a threat system
SINGER – RWR indication of a surface-to-air missile launch
PET Shot – Pre-Emptive Timing AGM-88 employment (e.g. so impacts as strikers are most vulnerable or some other mission requirement)
Miller Time – Completion of air-to-surface ordnance delivery; called by the last striker to signal the package is clear to egress
SA – Situational Awareness
SAT – Surface Attack (mission type)
GICL – Good Idea Cutoff Line (the point after which no new ideas are accepted before a mission)
TRAINING & QUALIFICATION
B Course – Initial F-16 qualification training
MQT – Mission Qualification Training
IC – Intelligence Community
LOGISTICS & SUPPORT
LRS – Logistics Readiness Squadron
WRM – War Reserve Materiel
CE – Civil Engineering
POL – Petroleum, Oil, and Lubricants
COMMANDS & ORGANIZATIONS
CENTCOM – U.S. Central Command
AFCENT – Air Force Central Command
COMMUNICATIONS
VTC – Video Teleconference
