An American F-16 pilot dodged enemy missiles with extreme high-G turns for 15 minutes during a Middle East mission.

• An American F-16 pilot dodged a 15-minute barrage of enemy missiles during a Middle East mission in March.

• According to the Air Force award citation, he made extreme turns to avoid explosions a few feet away.

• The incident appears to have taken place during the US military’s bombing campaign against the Houthi rebels.

A US Air Force pilot dodged enemy missile fire for 15 minutes during a missile strike in the Middle East this year, making extreme high-G maneuvers as the warheads exploded just feet away from his fighter jet.

Lt. Col. William Parks was awarded the Silver Star Medal, the nation’s third-highest military citation for valor in combat, at the Pentagon last week, according to an Air Force news release and service citation obtained by Business Insider.

The Air Force said the March 27 mission took place within the U.S. Central Command area of ​​responsibility, which includes the Middle East region, but did not specify exactly where. However, the timeline coincides with Operation Rough Rider, the military’s weeks-long bombing campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Parks served as mission commander overseeing a force package of 21 strike aircraft, while also leading four F-16 Fighting Falcon jets in suppression of enemy air defenses.

SEAD missions are designed to clear radars and surface-to-air missile launchers, giving friendly aircraft greater freedom to operate. The US military targeted Houthi air defenses in the Red Sea conflict.

During the mission, Parks “deliberately placed himself” within range of the air defenses protecting the “enemy’s capital,” reads the award citation. This decision allowed US aircraft to destroy ballistic missile production facilities.

Parkes’ fighter was targeted by a barrage of surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery that lasted for 15 minutes. The pilot pushed his F-16 through a string of high-G maneuvers and deployed countermeasures as shots exploded a few feet away.

F-16s can withstand up to nine G’s, or nine times the force of gravity, with a full fuel load during acceleration or turns. The human body can usually handle 4-5 Gs for short periods; Trained fighter pilots can handle high GS. Too long, though, and even a trained pilot can black out. It’s unclear how many parks were pulled on March 27.

The perils of the mission did not end there. Parks, who was below the minimum fuel level and still in enemy territory, immediately “coordinated an emergency rendezvous with two separate tankers, ensuring his flight access to critical fuel and preventing the possible loss of two aircraft due to fuel starvation,” his award citation read.

“His courageous and unflinching actions directly contributed to the survival of his wingmen and himself,” it says of Parks, the former commander of the 480th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron.

Park’s fighter squadron downed a “record” 108 enemy drones and land attack cruise missiles during its eight-month deployment, which supported some U.S. military operations in the Middle East, including those dedicated to fighting the Islamic State, the Air Force said in a statement Sunday.

The Air Force added that Parks demonstrated the “innovative” weaponry employment of inexpensive laser-guided rockets and decades-old AIM-9M air-to-air missiles against hostile targets, saving the U.S. more than $25 million in munitions costs.

The engagement marked the first time in three decades that the US Navy successfully used the AIM-9M Sidewinder, a supersonic missile developed in the 1950s, in combat.

“It’s a rare day when someone earns a Silver Star, less than 100 have been earned in an Air Force era,” Gen. Ken Wilsbach, the Air Force chief of staff, said at an awards ceremony last week.

After hearing of Parks’ experience, Wilsbach said, “I absolutely believe he deserves this honor. It is a privilege to recognize heroism in combat matters, and to serve alongside war fighters like him.”

The Air Force credited Park with six missile interceptions that threatened the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, which played a key role in anti-Houthi operations in the Red Sea, and five surface-to-air missiles that targeted its F-16s.

Parks, who has many Airmen in his family, described the Silver Star medal as “incredible” and said it meant “a lot.”

“The amount of flying and everything that happened in our family shaped me and helped mold me,” he added.

Read the original article on Business Insider