We'll See You in a Couple of Days" | Operation Midnight Hammer | Director of Ops "Cuffs" Kimber
The Afterburn PodcastShow Notes
Operation Midnight Hammer through the eyes of the people who flew it. "Cuffs" was the deployed Director of Operations for the 55th Fighter Squadron, the Wild Weasels who flew Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses ahead of the B-2 strike on Iran.
Watch the three-part documentary series on Afterburn Defense:
Part I: https://youtu.be/MgQ_X3Td8a4
Part II: https://youtu.be/GzdL6NMYDso
Part III: https://youtu.be/Xc22-2RaGSY
This is the full interview.
He ran the squadron's operations from the main base while the strike launched from somewhere else. In this conversation, he talks about how young the pilots flying this mission actually were, what it took to run a squadron split across two locations, the last handshakes before they stepped, and the wait until he heard they were on their way back.
Before Iran, the 55th Fighter Squadron 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 Spinning Up the Squadron for Deployment
1:43 A Threat Environment Unlike the Last 20 Years
4:09 Why the F-16 Still Matters in This Fight
6:28 Getting Out the Door
9:09 Most of These Pilots Were in Their Twenties
12:11 Learning a New Base and New Configurations
16:28 First Combat Sorties Over Yemen
20:24 Thinking About the Risk to Yourself
22:44 Learning About Operation Midnight Hammer
26:27 Trusting the Weapons Officers to Plan It
28:58 Running a Squadron Split Across Two Locations
32:48 The Night It Happened
36:50 The Last Handshakes Before They Stepped
39:38 Watching Them Come Home
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