Six F-22 Raptor pilots received Distinguished Flying Crosses during a recent ceremony at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, but the Air Force disclosed almost nothing about the aviators or the actions behind their medals.

Gen. Adrian Spain, commander of Air Combat Command, presented the awards. The Distinguished Flying Cross, or DFC, is the military’s highest award for flying and its fourth highest award overall, ranking above the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

“We haven’t awarded many of these in the last few decades, as it’s intended to recognize true heroism and highly exceptional accomplishment in flight, which means that it should be rare, and it is,” Spain said.

The Air Force published a press release quoting Spain and released several photographs of the ceremony and ribbons. Yet the official ceremony pictures showed Spain standing beside an empty stage, neatly capturing the secrecy surrounding the event.

Gold. Upgraded. Buy real gold from $1. Store it in America. Sell it with one click.

The release said the ceremony highlighted the warfighters’ actions and their contribution to the 1st Fighter Wing’s mission. Spain said their assignment was to provide air superiority while clearing the skies, protecting other aircraft from surface threats, and securing a route through heavily contested airspace.

The service did not publish the detailed citations that typically describe the conduct meriting an award. An Air Force official told Task & Purpose that the 1st Fighter Wing would not release pilot identities or additional mission details because of operational security.

Photograph captions said the missions supported Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025. A similar Sept. 30 announcement disclosed a DFC for a seventh unidentified F-22 pilot in Essen, Germany, without saying when the mission occurred or what the pilot did.

This Could Be the Most Important Video Gun Owners Watch All Year

That information blackout has become a pattern during the Iran war. Since Air Force crews began active combat missions against Iranian missile and drone attacks in April 2024, the service has announced 76 DFCs for 75 pilots and aircrew, with one airman receiving two medals for separate flights.

Those awards were presented at 15 bases, with ceremonies ranging from one fighter pilot in Alaska to 12 tanker pilots and boom operators at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington. For 11 awards, the Air Force released virtually no information.

Image Credit: DoW

That group includes the seven anonymous F-22 pilots and two F-16 pilots from the 510th Fighter Squadron at Aviano Air Base, Italy, who received DFCs in June 2025. Two pilots also appear to have received DFCs this month from Air Force Chief of Staff Kenneth Wilsbach at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, with similarly scarce information.

Valor awards have traditionally helped the public understand American wars and the dangers faced by service members. Citations from the 2021 Kabul evacuation offered some of the earliest public accounts of the danger and chaos encountered by aircrews.

During the Iran war, however, the Pentagon has repeatedly reduced press access, and no American reporters are embedded with or hosted by United States forces fighting the conflict. The government still has used valor awards publicly, including President Donald Trump’s February State of the Union focus on a Medal of Honor awarded to an Army special operations pilot for the Venezuela raid.

A DFC also matters inside the Air Force. It can weigh heavily in officer promotion reviews, while enlisted promotion calculations value it above either the Purple Heart or Bronze Star and, at some career stages, more than an additional year of experience.

The war has also produced an unusual number of awards for tanker crews. The Air Force has confirmed DFCs for 23 KC-135 tanker pilots and crew members, including 11 with the Tennessee Air National Guard, six with the 6th Air Refueling Wing, five with the 100th wing, and one at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.

Six KC-135 crew members are the only Air Force personnel identified as killed in the war so far, dying in a midair collision. Wilsbach also described tanker crews pushing through poor weather to refuel a B-1 bomber facing darkness and a fuel leak.

“A bomber pilot who couldn’t see depended on a tanker crew to guide him,” Wilsbach said.

Image Credit: DoW

In March, the 92nd Air Refueling Wing awarded DFCs to 12 pilots and crew members, all carrying either “V” or “C” devices. Staff Sgt. Gabrielle Stallings received two medals for separate missions, one with each device, but officials released no citations or mission details.

A congressman who attended told the Spokesman-Review that the awards were for Midnight Hammer. Staff members for Washington Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray also attended, while a Cantwell aide said restrictions on press access to Department of War matters had concerned the senator.

Other publicly announced DFCs went to fighter pilots, including 35 F-16 pilots, six F-35 pilots at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and eight F-15E Strike Eagle pilots based at Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. Most names were confirmed, but flight details remained limited.

The secrecy around Langley’s F-22 awards was eventually dented by a small newspaper in a Midwestern town of just over 3,000 residents. Its editor spotted a longtime friend’s Facebook post about traveling to Virginia for an Air Force pilot’s award ceremony, proving that even an operational security wall can meet its match in a proud mom.

Gold is the oldest answer. SoundMoney makes owning it as easy as the apps you already use.

The opinions expressed by contributors and/or content partners are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of LifeZette. Contact us for guidelines on submitting your own commentary.