When Iran dispatched some 200 attack drones and cruise missiles toward Israel in a brute-force attack on April 13, 2024, all of Capt. Carla Nava’s training was suddenly put to the test. A weapons systems officer with the 494th Fighter Squadron out of RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom, Nava knew her F-15E Strike Eagle was prepped to be first in a two-ship formation if called upon. But when the pair of aircraft were launched from their undisclosed location in the Middle East — in the dark of night and more urgently than the crews expected — the intensity of the real-world mission was still disorienting.
“It just hits heavier when you know the Master Arm hot switch is on,” Nava recalled.
As the swarms of one-way attack drones came into view within just minutes of takeoff, the planes, flying at low altitudes, were tasked with taking them out before they could reach their targets.
The No. 2 aircraft got the first shot at an incoming drone, but missed. That cued up Nava’s aircraft and her role of double-checking the Strike Eagle’s targeting pod and giving the all-clear to shoot. The drone went down: a confirmed kill.
“It’s nerve-wracking, and then once you see it hit, it’s the biggest relief that you can have before you move on to the next target and rinse and repeat,” she said.
Nava, 29, is Military Times’ Airman of the Year. A first-generation American whose parents came to the U.S. from Venezuela, she fell in love with aviation while a cadet at the Air Force Academy. Nava had volunteered for the Middle East deployment that would put her unit in the action against Iranian drones.
The April 13 mission made her, along with pilot Capt. Claire “Atomic” Eddins, the Air Force’s first all-female crew of aces – signifying five air-to-air kills.
Beyond her achievements in combat, Nava has worked to improve the service for other female airmen, coordinating a “Flying While Pregnant Roadshow” while stationed in the UK and representing her unit at a convention focused on improving uniforms and equipment for women aviators.
During the counter-drone mission, an unprecedented Iranian assault and the largest air-to-air engagement for the Air Force in more than half a century, Nava also took on risk, delaying a refueling to remain in position as other aircraft expended their missiles and had to depart the area. They reached a “combat bingo” fuel state, meaning they’d have to land at a friendly foreign base near their location if they couldn’t secure an aerial refueling, which they ultimately did.
By the time they headed back to home station, the crew had expended all their missiles and taken out five Iranian drones. Their status as newly minted aces didn’t set in, Nava said, until the next day when they reviewed the plane’s targeting history.
“It was a win for everybody,” Nava said, adding that the Air Force hadn’t seen new aces in decades prior to the Iran showdown, with male and female aircrews alike were celebrating the achievement.
Now, Nava teaches future combat systems officers at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.
Being named Airman of the Year, Nava said, “speaks to the village that raised me,” adding that her village includes her parents and the Air Force itself.
“It’s an honor … and I hope I do it justice.”
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