Operation Midnight Hammer F-16 Pilots Complete High-Risk Nighttime Strike Mission Over Eastern Europe
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Air Force has confirmed that a squadron of F-16 fighter pilots successfully executed a classified nighttime combat mission, codenamed Operation Midnight Hammer, over eastern European airspace on Tuesday evening, targeting strategic enemy infrastructure with minimal collateral damage.
WHO: The operation was carried out by a group of 12 U.S. Air Force F-16 pilots assigned to the 480th Fighter Squadron, operating under the direction of the United States European Command.
WHAT: The pilots conducted a series of precision airstrikes against a munitions storage facility and a command-and-control bunker, using advanced night-vision systems and GPS-guided munitions to neutralize the targets.
WHEN: The mission took place between 11:00 PM and 2:30 AM local time on Tuesday, February 13, 2025, under cover of heavy cloud cover and electronic warfare jamming.
WHERE: The strikes occurred at three separate coordinates within a contested region approximately 50 kilometers north of the Black Sea coast, in a zone currently under contested control amid ongoing regional tensions.
WHY: Military officials stated the objective was to degrade the adversary’s ability to conduct long-range artillery strikes against civilian population centers and to disrupt logistical supply lines supporting offensive ground operations.
HOW: The F-16 pilots utilized low-altitude terrain masking, active electronic countermeasures, and in-air refueling to bypass advanced air-defense systems, delivering 14 GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs and 8 AGM-158 JASSM cruise missiles with a reported 100 percent target destruction rate. All aircraft returned safely to base at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, with a final debriefing scheduled for Wednesday morning.