First Time Launching an F-16 Was the Iran Strike | Op Midnight Hammer | Avionics Tech SrA Michalenko
The Afterburn PodcastShow Notes
Operation Midnight Hammer through the eyes of the people who flew it. SrA Michalenko was an avionics journeyman for the 55th Fighter Squadron, working the computer and threat warning systems on the F-16s that 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.
It was his first deployment. He was given four hours to pack a bag and told to watch the news. In this conversation he talks about the call to a girlfriend he could tell nothing to, arriving somewhere he could not name, and launching a fighter jet on his own for the first time in his career on the night of the Iran strike.
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 What an Avionics Technician Works On
2:18 Bamboo Eagle and the First Deployment
5:16 Working Inside a Cockpit in Desert Heat
9:08 Four Hours to Pack a Bag
10:46 The Call I Couldn't Explain
13:10 Launching a Jet for the First Time
18:12 Waiting to See If They Came Back
20:25 A Big Ball of Fear
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