Navy F/A-18F Super Hornets employing laser-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions–JDAM–bombs struck Islamist militants in Iraq on Friday in response to advances on the northern Kurdish city of Erbil, the Pentagon said.
The three airstrikes came hours after President Barack Obama authorized the use force against the Islamic State, or ISIS, militants to prevent them from capturing Erbil, where American military and diplomatic personnel are stationed. The militants already control broad swaths of northern and central Iraq.
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Boeing [BA] Super Hornets were operating off the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) sailing in the northern Persian Gulf, the Navy said.
Two F/A-18Fs carried out the first strike on Islamic State artillery position, while the second strike was an armed drone also taking out militant artillery that was being used to attack Kurdish forces defending Erbil. The Pentagon did not specify the unmanned aerial vehicle used in the strike, but General Atomics-built Predators armed with Hellfire missiles are commonly used by the Air Force to hit ground targets.
Later, in the third strike, four Super Hornets each made two runs to drop JDAMS on a seven-vehicle convoy near Erbil. In both F/A-18 attacks, the JDAMS were the 500-pound GBU-54–also Boeing systems.
The CVN-77, based in Norfolk, Va., has 44 of the fighter jets from the VFA-31, VFA-213, VFA-15 and VFA-87 squadrons. The nuclear-powered carrier is also carrying five EA-6B Prowler electronic attack aircraft, four E-2C command and control Hawkeyes and eight MH-60S Sierra and four MH-60R Romeo helicopters, the Navy said.
Obama also instructed the military to carry out humanitarian relief efforts for ethnic groups fleeing the fighting. The Air Force had reportedly already begun dropping supplies using C-17 and C-130 aircraft.