The U.S. Air Force’s 325th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, has completed Weapon System Evaluation Program-Combat Hammer 26.07, using F-35A Lightning II aircraft from the 95th Fighter Squadron to test air-to-ground precision-guided munitions with live ordnance. The exercise ran from 4 to 14 August and evaluated the jet’s strike performance, along with the ability of aircrews and ground crews to generate combat power at tempo.
The training also involved the 86th Fighter Weapons Squadron and took place over the Utah Test and Training Range. It assessed the full strike chain, including aircraft, pilots, maintainers and munitions personnel, in conditions designed to mirror high-end combat. Air Combat Command framed the activity around readiness, lethality and Agile Combat Employment, with an emphasis on sustaining operations away from normal bases.
Live-ordnance handling formed a key part of the exercise, with personnel trained to arm, launch, recover and regenerate aircraft under operational pressure. The evaluation adds another data point to the Air Force’s growing use of WSEP events to measure whether fifth-generation fighters can deliver sustained precision attack as well as air-to-air performance.