US Air Force published news about awarding the Silver Star medal to former commander of the 480th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron Lieutenant Colonel William Parks for services in the US Central Command area of responsibility this year, among other things noting that his heroic decisions ensured the success of the mission to destroy enemy ballistic missile production facilities.
In their post, the US Air Force disclosed data that Parks during an eight-month deployment supporting four operations (Prosperity Guardian, Inherent Resolve, Spartan Shield and Rough Rider) commanded a squadron of 12 F-16 fighters, which achieved, as stated, a "record 108 air victories," meaning they shot down the specified number of enemy long-range strike drones, as well as cruise missiles.
Read more: Starlink Problem on russian Drones Remains Unresolved, Despite Pentagon Promises of a Fix a Year Ago
Parks himself destroyed six aerial targets that were directed at aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), and five more surface-to-air missiles that directly attacked his aircraft.
But the most interesting from the entire announcement is information that Parks implemented innovative standards of use for missiles, thanks to which they managed to save $25 million on ammunition.
First, it concerns the fact that they began using AGR-20F missiles, also known as APKWS II, to combat aerial targets this year for the American military this indeed became almost a revolutionary solution given the problem that super-expensive air-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft missiles were used to shoot down enemy drones.
Recall that in March this year, video first appeared showing APKWS II missiles from a fighter destroying Houthi drones, although the idea of equipping fighters with these missiles arose six years ago, in 2019.
Second, under innovative standards also hides the fact that they decided to use stocks of the older modification of AIM-9M air-to-air missiles, rather than the newest AIM-9X version, to counter drones and cruise missiles.
Moreover, earlier the idea of using specifically AIM-9M against long-range strike drones was adopted in Israelthere they modified this missile's seeker head, without which AIM-9M supposedly didn't cope very well with drones. At the same time, Israel has not shared the upgrade secret even with the United States.
Read more: Joint European Long-Range Strike Program ELSA Has Fallen Apart, Triggering a "Parade" of National Missile Projects Across the EU
