The QF-4 Phantom flew its final unmanned mission in the skies above White Sands Missile Range on August 17. During the flight, the unmanned aircraft served its primary mission as an aerial target and was shot at by an F-35 Lightning II from Edwards Air Force Base, California.

“Our mission is to provide those airplanes as targets for our Department of Defense and foreign military sales customers to test the next-generation of weapons,” said Lt Colonel Ronald King, the 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron, Detachment 1 commander. “Sometimes, that is a missile, sometimes a surface-to-air missile. For the final unmanned flight, we flew in support of an F-35 mission.”

This flight served as the final unmanned mission before the QF-4 programme ends later this year, and the 82nd ATRS, Det. 1 transitions to flying QF-16s.

“The QF-4 has been flying for about 15 years, and it has been instrumental in testing next-generation weapons and radar systems,” said King. “We’ll continue to fly them as manned aircraft until the end of the programme, which is through December, but this is the last time we are flying it unmanned before we transition to the QF-16.”