A small silhouette of a High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile can be seen painted below the cockpit in this new photo released by CENTCOM, indicating that the jet was likely responsible for destroying an Iranian air defence site.
The small but clear marking almost certainly denotes a direct hit against an Iranian air defence radar site or surface to air missile unit. Using the AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM), an aircraft is able to lock on directly to and launch against the source of hostile radar emissions.
Computers on board the aircraft are able to categorise the emissions based on known radar operating frequencies and characteristics – crucial data gathered by platforms like the RC-135U Combat Sent.
A nice shot of an American AGM-88 HARM launch from a Su-27S1M of the 39 BrTA.
The HARM works like this: passive homing on radar emissions from an air-defence radar, or — in modern variants — INS/GPS guidance for an approach by coordinates and a home-on-jam mode.
1/ pic.twitter.com/xCvOggKDzx
— 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝕯𝔢𝔞𝔡 𝕯𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔠𝔱△ 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇺🇲🇬🇷 (@TheDeadDistrict) November 3, 2025
The photo shows F-16C Fighting Falcon 00-0226 operating over an undisclosed Middle Eastern location carrying live air to air munitions. An AIM-120 AMRAAM is loaded on each wingtip station, with the next stations inwards carrying AIM-9X Sidewinders. Aside from the external fuel tank, the rest of the loadout under the starboard wing is obscured by a LITENING targeting pod.
Opposite the LITENING pod is, notably, a HARM Targeting System (HTS), meaning the obscured pylon may have carried a HARM. An empty ejector rack can be seen on the port wing, indicating that the jet was either returning from a live sortie and had expended its air to surface weapons when pictured or had simply not had these removed when the aircraft was generated for a different sortie.
A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet flies in airspace over the Middle East. U.S. forces across the region remain mission ready. pic.twitter.com/Fh6Q2z6nBG
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) May 9, 2026
As the image was released via social media channels there is no embedded metadata which could tell us when exactly the image was taken and, specifically, whether it is from before the U.S.-Iran ceasefire. Despite the ceasefire, which the U.S. maintains is still in force, U.S. military aircraft launched airstrikes on May. 7 targeting “Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking U.S. forces”.
Mixed loadouts with HARMs mounted alongside guided bombs have been seen in use in other released images. Using this type of loadout would almost certainly have become more common in the later stages of Operation Epic Fury, after the majority of dedicated SEAD (suppression of enemy air defences) missions had already been flown.
USAF F-16CMs from the 480th Fighter Squadron, “Warhawks,” heading out from Jordan on a Wild Weasel SAM hunting mission over Iran. pic.twitter.com/wXdvN9Kly6
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 8, 2026
Sending jets into combat with a single HARM allows for them to undertake SEAD if a resistant pocket of air defence capability is encountered, but simultaneously frees up the aircraft as a more generalized asset for other types of anti-surface strikes.
79th Fighter Squadron
Though we can’t be 100% certain which unit the jet was being operated by at the time – with the massive numbers of combat aircraft currently deployed to the Middle East, there is a lot of scope for pooling airframes between units – it carries the markings of the 79th Fighter Squadron, based with the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina.
The 79th FS is a specialist unit for SEAD, taking on the role after receiving its first F-16s in 1994. Dating from 1918, the unit is one of the most historic in the U.S. Air Force, through its history operating aircraft like the P-38 Lightning, P-51 Mustang, F-100 Super Sabre, and the F-111 Aardvark.
Let’s delve into archives. How about some F-111’s?
67-0120/UH F-111E 20th TFW, 79th TFS, RAF Upper Heyford. Marked as “The Chief”. Commander’s aircraft of the 20th TFW. Now preserved at the American Air Museum at Duxford. Which I shot at RAF Finningley, September 1993. pic.twitter.com/3MzSWiZvnb
— stuart freer (@stuartfreer1) August 26, 2019
With the Aardvark, based at RAF Upper Heyford, the unit took part in a critical 1985 exercise codenamed Operation Ghost Rider. This simulated strike sortie against a target across the Atlantic in Canada was in fact a dry rehearsal for Operation El Dorado Canyon, which would be flown against Libya by F-111s from RAF Lakenheath the following year.
In 1961, the 79th took the lead in forming what is now known as the NATO Tiger Association. This group of squadrons from NATO air arms was formed to promote community and camaraderie between NATO air crews. The running theme for each unit is the use of a tiger, or tiger stripes, as part of their identity. The 79th FS’ tiger stripes can be seen in their fin marking. Each year, the association gathers for a ‘Tiger Meet’, comprising both exercises and networking.
🐅✈️ The NATO Tiger Meet isn’t just about stripes.
Since 1961, Allied air forces have trained side by side, building cohesion, trust & interoperability.
👉 Tradition + training = stronger skies. pic.twitter.com/8Gd99DvyXR
— NATO Air Command (@NATO_AIRCOM) October 1, 2025
79th Squadron jets are no strangers to Middle East deployments, and regularly rotate in and out of the region every few years.
