A US Navy fighter pilot has become the first American woman to score a victory in air-to-air combat, the service has revealed. The female pilot, who was not named in the Navy release, was flying an F/A-18 Super Hornet off the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower as part of Strike Fighter Squadron 32, nicknamed the “Flying Swordsmen.” The aerial victory came against a one-way Houthi attack drone, one of dozens the Yemen-based group has deployed against civilian merchant ships in the Red Sea and nearby waters in reaction to the destruction in Gaza during Israel’s war against Hamas, a release from Carrier Strike Group 2 said. The squadron amassed more than 3,000 combat hours in flying almost 1,500 combat missions as part of operations Inherent Resolve and Prosperity Guardian, the former targeting ISIS and the latter stood up in December 2023 to respond to the Houthi-led attacks on international…
