Morning Wire
Into the Danger Zone: TOPGUN Instructor Breaks Down the U.S. Strike on Iran
07 Mar 2026
Chapter 1: What led to the U.S. airstrike on Iran?
On February 28, the U.S. and Israel mobilized a massive airstrike on Iran, deploying hundreds of planes from around the region for a highly targeted daylight ambush.
Those aircraft have created the environment by which Iran is really going to have a very difficult time preventing us from operating in their airspace wherever and however we want.
In this episode, we speak to a Top Gun instructor about what it's like participating in a mission on this scale and how the U.S. military prepares their world-class pilots for combat. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley, and this is a weekend episode of Morning Wire.
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Chapter 2: How does a TOPGUN instructor prepare for combat missions?
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Chapter 3: What insights can David Berke provide about Operation Epic Fury?
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Joining us now is retired Marine Corps pilot and Top Gun instructor David Burke. David, thanks for coming on.
Yeah, it's good to be here. Thank you.
And just to start off, I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I didn't realize that there were fighter pilots in the Marines. How did you go from being in the Marines to a Top Gun instructor?
Yeah, it's a good question. And it's something that actually is common, that there's a misunderstanding. There are fighter pilots in the Marine Corps. Naval aviation in general consists of both Navy and Marine Corps pilots, and we work really closely together.
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Chapter 4: How do U.S. air missions compare to historical operations?
So all of foundational initial training that Marines go through is... Navy training. So you might have a class that's 80% Navy, 20% Marines, and we go through all the same training. And back when I was doing this in the mid to late 90s, when I was getting my start, we were flying a lot of the same airplanes, much like we do now.
And so I ended up getting selected for the Marine Corps to fly the F-18 Hornet. And it turns out that the Marine Corps had, you know, well over a dozen F-18 squadrons, and a handful of them would deploy on Navy aircraft carriers. And I was in a squadron in the
Chapter 5: What challenges do pilots face during long-duration flights?
I was attached to a Navy carrier. So I spent four years as a Marine flying off Navy ships, aircraft carriers in Iraq and Afghanistan. I went to Top Gun as a student, as a Marine, and there's a relatively small percentage of Marines that get to go. And then I was invited back to be an instructor on a staff of 25 instructor pilots
They have three Marine pilots at the Navy's weapons school, which we call Top Gun. So I was very, very lucky as a Marine to have a career that I flew fighters for the Marine Corps, but very closely connected and integrated with the Navy. And that took me to Navy carriers. That took me to Navy Top Gun. And it took me to be an instructor at Top Gun as a Marine.
Wow. So I want to ask you, given your background about what insights you have into Operation Epic Fury, which is the mission that was just kicked off over the weekend, what do you know about this mission and what kind of insights can you give us about what went down on Saturday?
Yeah, I mean, this Georgia is a mission of huge magnitude. The number of sorties, the coordination with both us, our naval and air forces, Israel's air forces as well.
Chapter 6: How do pilots survive in friendly fire incidents?
There is a lot going on. I'm fortunate to draw on my experience. I flew combat missions off aircraft carriers. launching from the deck of a U.S. carrier, very similar to how we started this operation in a lot of coordination with a lot of land-based assets. This is an extensive, complex, and comprehensive, very air-centric attack to start off this campaign.
How does this attack compare to some things that you saw, and how does it fit into the broader context of American military history?
This is a This is a big mission. I don't want to make it sound like this is very small, but things that we've done in somewhat recent history, 2003 in Iraq, 2001 in Afghanistan, we are accustomed and well-trained to do exactly what you saw, which is hundreds of aircraft flying nonstop, 24-hour operations, long missions. We had some flights that are 18, 19 hours long.
Chapter 7: What are the capabilities of Iran's air defense systems?
originating in the United States. Those are B-2s from Whiteman flying all the way to Iran and back. And so while this is pretty significant, this is something we are familiar with, something we've been training to for a long time, and something that the U.S. military is actually really good at.
Now, when you say 18 hours, is that one guy in a small plane flying for 18 hours?
In this aircraft that we're talking about, the B-2, they're going to be a pilot and a co-pilot up in the aircraft, and oftentimes they'll swap that out. So you'll have more than one person in that case, but you have a relatively small crew in a relatively small aircraft flying for literally over 24 hours, five or six air refuels to get there. Sometimes five or six air refuels to get home.
That is a mind blowing experience that no other country in the world can create that capability other than us in that aircraft.
Now, we're still learning about what happened last week, but one pretty amazing story is the pilots that were shot down in Kuwait that somehow survived. What do we know about that incident?
Yeah, obviously, I think the most dramatic and the most challenging one we've seen so far is the friendly fire incident where we lost three F-15s. And there's video of those aircraft plummeting to the ground.
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Chapter 8: How is fear managed in fighter pilot training?
And anytime you lose an aircraft in combat, that is a dramatic, it is a significant event.
first i think it's amazing and we're very thankful and i thank god that all six air crew walked away from that and they're okay um but when you have an incident a friendly fire incident i think that is sometimes unfortunately the best uh revelation of just how complex and how demanding air combat can be uh and how very very small errors can lead to huge catastrophic events
when you're talking about aircraft and losing three of 15s was really an unfortunate thing. Again, I'm really glad they're all okay, but that was a really, really tough thing to see because I know how often those blue on blue incidents, the potential for that is very high. We avoid them, but not always.
How did those pilots survive that? I mean, just based on their training, what do they do in that situation? Can you walk us through what that's actually like?
Yeah. And I say this, you know, kind of a double-edged sword. On one sense, it's really good. We have unbelievably good training to prepare aircrew for the advent of having to leave an aircraft, having to eject out of an aircraft. And that training is excellent. The other side of that is obviously it's something we don't ever want to have to do.
But my estimate would be is when the incident happened and all three of those aircraft were hit and the aircraft were no longer flyable, their training kicked in. They did exactly what they were supposed to do. The video is dramatic, not just them parachuting out of the aircraft, but them interacting on the ground with the local Kuwaiti populace.
And those aircrew, exactly the way they're trained, did exactly what we've all prepared for. Like I said, it's a double-edged sword, but they executed flawlessly once that thing happened.
So how much time do they have from the time they realize they've been struck to making that decision, I presume, to shoot themselves out of their seats? I mean, is that seconds?
Yeah, Georgia, that's a great question. And it is seconds. Obviously, I can't replicate in my mind exactly what that's like. But to be in a friendly aircraft over essentially, in that case, friendly territory post-mission, the likelihood in their mind that they were at risk was probably very low because
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