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US Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet BuNo. 168914, Modex 402, attached to the “Golden Warriors” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 87 assigned to Carrier Air Wing 8, which scored the US first first air-to-air kill against another plane in nearly 20 years in 2017 is currently taking part in Operation Epic Fury against Iran.
The specific Rhino (as the Super Hornet is dubbed by her aircrews) was seen launching from the USS Gerald R. Ford in a video posted by US Central Command (CENTCOM) on Mar. 14, 2026 showing a variety of the air power being used during Operation Epic Fury.
The presence of this specific Super Hornet in the video was first noted by Task & Purpose that was tipped off by X user @obretix and Jared Keller, the author of the Laser Wars newsletter.
The F/A-18E now sports a single Syrian flag on the right side that after the aircraft got a fresh paint job replaced the original silhouette of a plane below a Syrian flag on the left side of its body marking the kill.
The F/A-18E originally had a silhouette of a plane below a Syrian flag on the left side of its body marking the kill, but that was shifted to a single Syrian flag on the right side after it got a fresh paint job. The aircraft has changed operators and been assigned to different carriers since receiving that Syrian flag art.
The strike fighter took part in Operation Southern Spear in the Caribbean as proved by military’s Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS)’s photos that showed it launching from Ford in December. The Super Hornet was spotted before that at Roosevelt Roads naval base on the island, with its pilot identification more visible by Puerto Rico-based aviation photographers. The pilot, at least then, was Lt. Cmdr. J.G. Gordon, callsign “Hodor.”
F/A-18E BuNo. 168914 shot down a Syrian Su-22 on Jun. 18, 2017. On that day the aircraft was flown by LCDR Michael “MOB” Tremel. As reported back then, Tremel downed the Fitter near Tabqah, 20 miles west of Raqqa, after that the attack aircraft had dropped bombs near US backed forces, in the form of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Super Hornet features the kill mark of the air-to-air victory under the cockpit canopy too.
Immediately after the Syrian Su-22 dropped its bombs, two American F/A-18E Super Hornets, flying from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, engaged, firing an AIM-9X Sidewinder – a short-range air-to-air missile – at the Syrian plane from about half a mile away.
But the Syrian jet deployed defensive flares, causing the Sidewinder to miss its target. At this point LCDR Tremel shot a second missile, in the form of an AIM-120 AMRAAM, which hit its intended target, downing the Syrian warplane and forcing its pilot to eject.
Noteworthy this Su-22 shot down represented the first air-to-air kill scored by a U.S. Navy aircraft since Operation Desert Storm (ODS). During ODS in fact two F/A-18C Hornets belonging to VFA-81 Sunliners downed two Iraqis Chengdu F-7As (the chinese version of the MiG-21 Fishbed) on Jan. 17, 1991, and an F-14A Tomcat from VF-1 Wolfpack shot down an Iraqi Mi-8 helicopter on Feb. 6, 1991.
Photo credit: Screenshot via CENTCOM on X and Seaman Mark Rundio / U.S. Navy
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