Yasin Gungor
15 September 2026•Update: 15 September 2026
US Air Force personnel supporting Operation Epic Fury in the Middle East weathered 1,200 "Alarm Red" conditions amid Iranian missile and drone attacks, completed 48 runway repairs, and conducted more than 400 unexploded ordnance sweeps, a senior military official said Monday.
The operation will be studied for its scale, precision and speed, Gen. Ken Wilsbach, chief of staff of the Air Force, said at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference.
He noted that in over 38 days of combat missions, the Joint Force hit more than 13,000 military targets.
A fleet of 500 aircraft executed 10,000 sorties, maintaining a daily tempo of more than 250 flights, while personnel managed emergency repairs and conducted more than 420 reportable ordnance disposal missions under fire, he added.
The combat missions occurred during the Iran war, which began Feb. 28 with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iranian leadership and infrastructure.
While the campaign degraded Iranian positions, American bases across the Gulf and Jordan have sustained retaliatory missile and drone barrages that heavily depleted interceptor stockpiles and caused operational damage.
The combat operations form part of the six-month-old Iran war, which has left 18 US service members dead and 824 wounded since February 2026.
The US has formally separated Operation Epic Fury from the ongoing hostilities with Iran, while continuing to conduct strikes and maritime operations under different labels such as Project Freedom and Overseas Operations.
To counter evolving threats, Wilsbach announced the establishment of the Point Defense Weapon System, which integrates kinetic and directed platforms to bolster base security, alongside a specialized point-defense career field.
