Commanding the Wing That Flew Into Iran | Operation Midnight Hammer | Col Kevin "Flint" Hicok
Notes de l’épisode
Col Kevin "Flint" Hicok commanded the 20th Fighter Wing during Operation Midnight Hammer, leading the largest Air Force wing in CENTCOM since Desert Storm.
The three-part documentary series is on Afterburn Defense:
Part I: https://youtu.be/MgQ_X3Td8a4
Part II: https://youtu.be/GzdL6NMYDso
Part III: https://youtu.be/Xc22-2RaGSY
Operation Midnight Hammer through the eyes of the people who flew it. This is the full interview with Col. Kevin Hicok, a career F-16 fighter pilot who commanded the F-16 Wild Weasels that flew Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses ahead of the B-2 strike on Iran.
Before Iran, the wing fought over Yemen in Operation Rough Rider, a sustained air campaign against Houthi surface-to-air threats. What they learned there is the reason the F-16 Block 50 and the AGM-88 HARM were part of the strike package on June 21st, 2025.
These interviews were recorded between December 2025 and January 2026 and preserve firsthand accounts from pilots, maintainers, intelligence officers, and logistics airmen who were there.
0:00 Intro
0:56 Commanding the Largest F-16 Wing in the Air Force
3:49 From a Small Town in Iowa to Fighter Pilot
10:02 Deploying the Whole Wing for the First Time Since Desert Storm
15:23 Operation Rough Rider and the Houthi Drone Threat
17:27 Learning About Operation Midnight Hammer
19:22 Surging 100 More Aircraft and 220 Percent More People
20:20 The Logistics Nobody Sees: Fuel, Water, and 115 Degree Heat
23:17 Sending Airmen Across the Line Into Iran
29:18 When the Last Jet Landed
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