{ "archive_path": "archive/1791021934.487847", "base_url": "www.twz.com/air/all-the-weapons-a-single-navy-fighter-squadron-launched-during-operation-epic-fury", "basename": "all-the-weapons-a-single-navy-fighter-squadron-launched-during-operation-epic-fury", "bookmarked_date": "2026-10-03 10:05", "canonical": { "archive_org_path": "https://web.archive.org/web/www.twz.com/air/all-the-weapons-a-single-navy-fighter-squadron-launched-during-operation-epic-fury", "dom_path": "output.html", "favicon_path": "favicon.ico", "git_path": "git/", "google_favicon_path": "https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=www.twz.com", "headers_path": "headers.json", "htmltotext_path": "htmltotext.txt", "index_path": "index.html", "media_path": "media/", "mercury_path": "mercury/content.html", "pdf_path": "output.pdf", "readability_path": "readability/content.html", "screenshot_path": "screenshot.png", "singlefile_path": "singlefile.html", "warc_path": "warc/", "wget_path": "www.twz.com/air/all-the-weapons-a-single-navy-fighter-squadron-launched-during-operation-epic-fury.html" }, "domain": "www.twz.com", "extension": "", "hash": "17F7ZRYZVTKGPWJ83W57", "history": { "archive_org": [], "dom": [], "favicon": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--max-time", "120", "--output", "favicon.ico", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=www.twz.com" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-10-03T13:35:12.369625+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "favicon.ico", "pwd": "/data/archive/1791021934.487847", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-10-03T13:35:11.637100+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "git": [], "headers": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--head", "--max-time", "120", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://www.twz.com/air/all-the-weapons-a-single-navy-fighter-squadron-launched-during-operation-epic-fury" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-10-03T13:35:12.897544+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "headers.json", "pwd": "/data/archive/1791021934.487847", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-10-03T13:35:12.379105+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "htmltotext": [], "media": [], "mercury": [ { "cmd": [ "/app/node_modules/@postlight/parser/cli.js", "https://www.twz.com/air/all-the-weapons-a-single-navy-fighter-squadron-launched-during-operation-epic-fury" ], "cmd_version": "1.0.0", "end_ts": "2026-10-03T13:35:50.844816+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "mercury", "pwd": "/data/archive/1791021934.487847", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-10-03T13:35:46.776136+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "pdf": [], "readability": [ { "cmd": [ "/app/node_modules/readability-extractor/readability-extractor", "/tmp/tmpgow0pm8d", "https://www.twz.com/air/all-the-weapons-a-single-navy-fighter-squadron-launched-during-operation-epic-fury" ], "cmd_version": "0.0.11", "end_ts": "2026-10-03T13:35:46.762690+00:00", "index_texts": [ "The volume of munitions expended in the course of U.S. operations against Iran this year has been and continues to be a hot topic of discussion, and there has been relatively little official data provided on this front. However, now we know that the F/A-18F Super Hornets of the U.S. Navy\u2019s Strike Fighter Squadron 41 (VFA-41), the \u201cBlack Aces,\u201d launched 421 missiles and bombs during their time supporting Operation Epic Fury.\n\n\n\nThis new insight into VFA-41\u2019s role in the conflict with Iran comes from a photo of a large board listing the squadron\u2019s weapons expenditures during Epic Fury, via Jeff Rojas, who goes by the handle @jro_photography on Instagram. Rojas also shared pictures recently taken of VFA-41\u2019s Super Hornets. The Black Aces were one of the squadrons assigned to the Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been on a marathon deployment since last year. The carrier only left the Middle East region last month and is now set to formally return home to San Diego, California, within days. Per the Pentagon\u2019s official timeline, Operation Epic Fury began on February 28 and concluded on May 5, though U.S. forces have continued to conduct strikes on Iran, on and off, since then.\n\n\n\nOne of VFA-41\u2019s F/A-18F Super Hornets spotted recently. Jeff Rojas Jeffrey Rojas\n\n\n\nThe complete tally of munitions employed as shown on the board, broken down by type, from greatest to fewest, is as follows:\n\n\n\n\n173 GBU-38/B 500-pound-class Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) GPS-assisted precision-guided bombs\n\n\n\n52 GBU-31(V)4/B 2,000-pound-class JDAMs \n\n\n\n48 GBU-54/B 500-pound-class dual-mode Laser JDAMs (LJDAM)\n\n\n\n41 AGM-154 Joint Stand-Off Weapon\u00a0(JSOW) precision-guided glide bombs\n\n\n\n33 AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles\n\n\n\n30 GBU-31(V)2/B 2,000-pound-class JDAMs \n\n\n\n27 GBU-32/B 1,000-pound-class JDAMs \n\n\n\n10 AGM-84K Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) land attack cruise missiles\n\n\n\n6 AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM)\n\n\n\n1 GBU-12/B 500-pound-class Paveway II laser-guided precision-guided bomb\n\n\n\n\nThe total cost of all of these munitions, using available data from U.S. military budget documents, is very roughly $43,646,000, at least. Unit costs fluctuate regularly due to a variety of factors. Furthermore, the exact price tag for different JDAMs can be somewhat difficult to calculate given how the individual components are budgeted.\n\n\n\nThe JDAM is really a family of kits that turn standard unguided \u2018iron bombs,\u2019 which can vary significantly in the kinds of effects they are designed to produce, into warheads for precision-guided munitions. This is exemplified by the (V)2 and (V)4 subvariants of the GBU-31/B mentioned here, which are built using standard high-explosive and bunker-buster bombs, respectively. No specific subvariants of the GBU-32, GBU-38, or GBU-54 were mentioned in the information provided. Standard JDAMs can also only be employed against static target coordinates. The LJDAM kits add a laser guidance component (akin to what is found on Paveway-series bombs) that enables strikes against moving targets.\n\n\n\nA JDAM, as well as a pair of AIM-9Xs, seen under the wing of a VFA-41 Super Hornet in August. NAVCENT \n\n\n\nNo specific version of AGM-154 is mentioned, either, but the C and C-1 types, which have multi-stage bunker-busting warheads, are the only ones understood to be in service today. Remaining A variants, which were loaded with\u00a0145 small bomblets, were removed from U.S. service in 2008 as a result of new guidelines on cluster munitions issued under President George W. Bush. A planned AGM-154B, which would have contained six \u201csmart\u201d Sensor Fuzed Munition bomblets, was never produced. You can read more about the full JSOW family here.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWe do not know exactly what targets any of these munitions were employed against. However, a picture that Jeff Rojas grabbed of one of VFA-41\u2019s Super Hornets, seen toward the top of this story and in part below, shows a very interesting broken submarine kill marking, with the added text \u201cSub Buster.\u201d The jet also has a number of more typical bomb-shaped kill marks.\n\n\n\nA close-up look at the broken submarine and other kill marks on one of VFA-41\u2019s Super Hornets. Jeff Rojas Jeffrey Rojas\n\n\n\nIranian naval vessels, including the country\u2019s Russian-made Kilo class and other submarines, were top priority targets during Epic Fury. The U.S. military has previously confirmed that air-launched AGM-114 Hellfire laser-guided missiles (likely fired from MQ-9 Reaper drones) and ground-launched Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) short-range ballistic missiles were employed against submarines, specifically. \n\n\n\nThe video montage in the social media post below includes a clip, starting at 0:13 in the runtime, of a Hellfire missile hitting what looks to be a Ghadir class diesel-electric midget submarine in port.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nU.S. forces are degrading the Iranian regime's ability to project power at sea and harass international shipping. For years, Iranian forces have threatened freedom of navigation in waters essential to American, regional and global security and prosperity. pic.twitter.com/gIBN02mowh\u2014 U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 10, 2026\n\n\n\n\n\nBunker-busting JDAMs are also known to have been key munitions employed during strikes on targets in Iran during Epic Fury. TWZ previously called explicit attention to the employment of JSOW in the opening phases of the operation, as well. Navy strike fighter squadrons made significant use of SLAM-ERs in strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen last year, too.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIt is extremely likely that the AIM-9Xs and AIM-120s were fired at Iranian drones, though they could have been launched at incoming cruise missiles, as well. At the time of writing, there are no known or reported instances of U.S. military jets engaging crewed Iranian aircraft in the course of the conflict to date. In 2024, the Navy carried out a crash program that\u00a0increased the total number of AIM-9Xs that F/A-18E/Fs could carry per sortie, specifically in response to Houthi drone threats. Super Hornets loaded with nine air-to-air missiles are now referred to as \u201cMurder Hornets.\u201d\n\n\n\nNotably absent in VFA-41\u2019s tally is any mention of 70mm laser-guided Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rockets. Air-to-air optimized versions of the APKWS II are now part of the arsenal available to U.S. Air Force F-16C Vipers, F-15E Strike Eagles, and A-10 Warthogs, and have become the service\u2019s go-to aerial weapon for engaging drones. In February, the U.S. Marine Corps disclosed that it was working to integrate this capability onto its legacy F/A-18C/D Hornets. Whether the Navy has any such plans for the Super Hornet is unclear.\n\n\n\nIt is also important to remember that this is a discussion of the munitions expended by just one Navy strike fighter squadron. Lincoln\u2018s air wing includes four strike squadrons, three with Super Hornets and one with F-35Cs, as well as units flying other types of aircraft and helicopters. The carrier was just one part of a much larger array of air, naval, and ground forces that participated in Operation Epic Fury and subsequent operations against Iran. For additional context, consider that the entire Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, including its entire air wing and escorting ships, fired off 770 munitions in total, by the official count, during very active combat operations in and around the Red Sea between November 2023 and June 2024.\n\n\n\nVFA-41 Super Hornets seen flying together recently. Jeff Rojas \n\n\n\nAll of this speaks to the larger matter of how many munitions the U.S. military has expended in the course of operations against Iran this year, which is now fueling concerns about the sufficiency of remaining stockpiles and what it will take to replenish them.\n\n\n\nAs such, the tally of munitions launched from VFA-41 Super Hornets offers a very interesting view into that squadron\u2019s contributions to Operation Epic Fury, as well as the full scale and scope of the conflict with Iran.\n\n\n\nSpecial thanks again to Jeff Rojas for sharing the details about VFA-41\u2019s participation in Operation Epic Fury and his pictures with us.\n\n\n\nContact the author: joe@twz.com" ], "output": "readability", "pwd": "/data/archive/1791021934.487847", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-10-03T13:35:44.716758+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "screenshot": [], "singlefile": [], "title": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--max-time", "120", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://www.twz.com/air/all-the-weapons-a-single-navy-fighter-squadron-launched-during-operation-epic-fury" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-10-03T13:35:44.708706+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "All The Weapons A Single Navy Fighter Squadron Launched During Operation Epic Fury", "pwd": "/data/archive/1791021934.487847", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-10-03T13:35:44.646549+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "wget": [ { "cmd": [ "wget", "--no-verbose", "--adjust-extension", "--convert-links", "--force-directories", "--span-hosts", "--no-parent", "-e", "robots=off", "--reject=js,mjs,woff,woff2,ttf,otf,eot,mp4,m4v,mov,webm,ogv,mkv,avi,flv", "--timeout=120", "--restrict-file-names=windows", "--page-requisites", "--user-agent=Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) wget/GNU Wget 1.21.3", "--compression=auto", "--timestamping", "https://www.twz.com/air/all-the-weapons-a-single-navy-fighter-squadron-launched-during-operation-epic-fury" ], "cmd_version": "GNU Wget 1.21.3", "end_ts": "2026-10-03T13:35:44.633679+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "www.twz.com/air/all-the-weapons-a-single-navy-fighter-squadron-launched-during-operation-epic-fury.html", "pwd": "/data/archive/1791021934.487847", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-10-03T13:35:12.906773+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ] }, "icons": null, "is_archived": true, "is_static": false, "latest": { "archive_org": null, "dom": null, "favicon": "favicon.ico", "git": null, "media": null, "pdf": null, "screenshot": null, "singlefile": null, "title": "All The Weapons A Single Navy Fighter Squadron Launched During Operation Epic Fury", "warc": null, "wget": "www.twz.com/air/all-the-weapons-a-single-navy-fighter-squadron-launched-during-operation-epic-fury.html" }, "link_dir": "/data/archive/1791021934.487847", "newest_archive_date": "2026-10-03T13:35:46.776136+00:00", "num_failures": 0, "num_outputs": 6, "oldest_archive_date": "2026-10-03T13:35:11.637100+00:00", "path": "/air/all-the-weapons-a-single-navy-fighter-squadron-launched-during-operation-epic-fury", "schema": "Link", "scheme": "https", "snapshot_id": "ba51433a-13d9-4a55-83b1-981b76ea5a32", "sources": [ "/data/sources/1791021934-import.txt" ], "tags": ",pool,war_movement,war-wiki", "tags_str": "pool,war_movement,war-wiki", "timestamp": "1791021934.487847", "title": "All The Weapons A Single Navy Fighter Squadron Launched During Operation Epic Fury", "updated": "2026-10-03T13:35:11.636929+00:00", "updated_date": "2026-10-03 13:35", "url": "https://www.twz.com/air/all-the-weapons-a-single-navy-fighter-squadron-launched-during-operation-epic-fury" }