Category: Business Insider

The F-35 stores its weapons and fuel internally, and its aligned edges and radar-absorbent coating also help the aircraft evade detection. The planes cost $44,000 per hour to fly, The National Interest reported in January.

Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn A. Hewson said in 2018 that the planes "can fly in what we call 'beast mode,' carrying up to 18,000 pounds of internal and external ordnance, in a mix that can include 5,000-pound-class weapons."

Israel was the first country to select the model through the US Foreign Military Sales process and bought 50 planes, according to Lockheed Martin.

Israel manufactures its own wings and electronic warfare system for the F-35I. It also developed its own version of the high-tech helmet that displays the plane's airspeed, altitude, targeting information, and other crucial stats directly on the pilot's visor.

The Israeli Air Force also added a six-pointed Star of David to the design, a Jewish symbol that also appears on the Israeli flag.

"We are flying the F-35 all over the Middle East and have already attacked twice on two different fronts," then-Israeli Air Force chief Major-General Amikam Norkin said in a speech at a gathering of foreign air force leaders, Reuters reported.

The deal was financed through the military aid Israel receives from the US, Reuters reported.

It was the first known intercept of a cruise missile by an F-35 plane.

The Israeli Air Force released footage of the encounter on X, writing in Hebrew that its personnel are "preoccupied at every moment with planning and managing the defense response and are prepared for any threat in any area."

Out of the over 350 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, launched at Israel by Iran and its proxies in Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon, around 99% were intercepted by Israel and its allies. The IDF released photos showing minor damage near a runway at the Nevatim Airbase and to a road in Hermon caused by the few projectiles that landed.

The Nevatim Airbase remained operational throughout the attack, with the Adir fighter jets aiding the defensive mission.

The Nevatim base sustained minor damage but remained operational throughout the attack, IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a statement.

"Iran thought it would be able to paralyze the base and thus damage our air capabilities, but it failed," Hagari said.

The October 7 terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas killed around 1,200 Israelis and captured over 240. Around 129 hostages remain in Gaza, though it is unknown how many are still alive.

Israel's counteroffensive airstrikes and military actions in Gaza have resulted in over 33,000 Palestinian fatalities, including around 14,500 children, according to figures provided to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza. The IDF reports that 13,000 of these fatalities were Hamas militants.

According to the UNRWA, over 1.7 million Gazans have been displaced and 1.1 million are at risk of "catastrophic levels of food insecurity."

The devastating human toll of the war in Gaza with US-funded planes like the F-35I has prompted new scrutiny of US aid to Israel, with some lawmakers in Congress raising the possibility of conditioning military and economic aid.

All of the Dreams properties are all-inclusive and family-friendly.

But not for long: The Curaçao property's upcoming 52 units are set to be located in a new adult-only section called Il Mare.

In late February, the hotel giant reported an 11% surge in bookings for Apple Leisure Group's all-inclusive resorts in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same time last year. Hyatt acquired Apple Leisure Group and its properties — which includes Zoëtry, another resort in Curaçao — in late 2021.

To meet this demand, Hyatt launched its 10th all-inclusive brand, Hyatt Vivid, in April with an adult-only resort in Cancún, Mexico.

Compared to traditional hotel rooms, these futuristic units provide travelers extra privacy.

No more shared walls. And no more opening a hotel room door to a hallway shared with other guests: The upcoming tiny home-like modular units would instead open onto the beach.

The beachfront fiberglass dwellings would fall on the smaller end at either 377 square feet or 436 square feet, depending on the room category.

Both sizes would still be able to fit a king bed, a dual vanity bathroom, and a furnished terrace for guests to soak in the beach views.

Travelers would still have access to the rest of Dreams' family-friendly resort, which includes three complimentary eateries, three à la carte restaurants, three pools, four bars, and activities like tennis and kayaks.

On the first weekend of September, rates for one night and two guests at Zoëtry Curaçao — a 10-minute walk from Dreams — come in at about $580. A 20-minute drive away, Sunscape hovers close to $290.

Dreams' traditional hotel rooms fall in the middle at about $350 for the same night and party size. However, its upcoming oceanfront modular cabins would start at more than $1,060, according to a recent search of its website.

(Competitor Hilton also has two all-inclusive waterfront properties in Curaçao starting at $430 for the same weekend.)

But it's not a new concept.

Startups like European Nokken and New York-based Moliving sell high-end modular "tiny home" hotel rooms. The latter plans to launch its own modular resort about two hours outside New York City.

The property, known as Hurley House, is slated to open this year, although it's already been delayed by two years.

But for the most part, hotel giants like Hyatt, Hilton, and Marriott have yet to cash in on the factory-made, tiny dwelling boom.

Dreams Curaçao's modular expansion could be a litmus test of how well these unique dwellings perform on the mainstream, all-inclusive stage. Who knows, maybe tiny homes could become the hottest beachfront vacation accommodation someday.

Cook was featured as a guest on a 2023 episode of the podcast "Dua Lipa: At Your Service," and he revealed he likes to wake up between 4 and 5 a.m. to respond to emails.

"I read emails from a lot of customers and employees, and the customers are telling me things that they love about us or things that they want changed about us. Employees are giving me ideas. But it's a way to stay grounded in terms of what the community is feeling, and I love it," he said.

The rest of his morning involves strength training, getting ready for work, coffee, and a light breakfast.

"Insecure" creator, "Barbie" president, and Sienna Naturals cofounder Issa Rae has a lot on her plate.

In a 2024 interview with Glamour, Rae was asked about her favorite way to take a moment for herself. "It's in the early morning," she said. "Honestly, I get up at four and that is my workout time."

"And then literally after that time, I sit with coffee and a journal and just sit with my thoughts," Rae added.

The 33-year-old described his motivation for waking up early in an interview that appeared in Entrepreneur's Handbook in 2018.

"I get up really early, because that's the only time that's 'Evan Time' for me, when people aren't really awake yet. I get a couple hours between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. to do whatever I wanna do," he said.

Snap told Business Insider in 2024 that after Spiegel wakes up, he takes 30 minutes to check the app and his email and drink a double espresso. After that, he'll do a 45-minute workout at the gym or do Kriya meditation before showering, reading the news, and having breakfast with his family around 7 a.m.

Spiegel shares three kids with wife Miranda Kerr and helps co-parent Kerr's child from her previous marriage to Orlando Bloom.

The mind behind hit series like "Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal," and "Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story" collaborated with MasterClass in 2016 to teach writing for television.

In episode 11, "Writing a Script: Effective Habits," Rhimes said, "I used to think that there was like a special magic golden hour in which I wrote better than any other time. But that keeps changing, so I no longer think that's true."

At the time, she said her schedule involved waking up at 5 a.m. to get a lot of writing done, then focusing on writing again in the office around the middle of the day.

Despite her early wake-up time, Rhimes is an advocate for work-life balance, telling Fast Company in 2017, "I do not answer phone calls or emails after 7 p.m. I do not work on weekends … I mean, I write. I just don't answer phone calls or emails."

In a February 2024 interview with The Cut, Osaka said, "I wake anywhere between 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. depending on the day. I try to start with a five-minute meditation, if I can squeeze it in with the baby."

The four-time Grand Slam singles champion welcomed her first child, a daughter named Shai, with her partner Cordae in 2023.

"I hit the snooze button all the time. My body is a natural alarm clock. Whether I like it or not, I get up around 5 o'clock in the morning but then I go back to sleep depending on what I have to do; it's like a second sleep, it's like a really really good sleep," Jordan said in a 2018 episode of the Vanity Fair series "In a Day."

When he's actually ready to get up, Jordan said he gets out of bed on the right foot — literally. He always ensures his right foot is the first to touch the ground.

Then, he'll meditate while he showers, have breakfast, and work out.

In October 2023, Wahlberg told Today.com he wakes up at 3:30 a.m. to work out. Later, it takes him multiple trips upstairs to convince his kids to get out of bed.

"I've been going like, 3:30 wake up, 4 o'clock in the gym, kind of finish that, get my reading and my prayer time done, and then start the process of waking them up, which usually ends up taking — I'm up and down the stairs at least three times to get the teenagers up and I get them off to school, and then I usually start the rest of my day," he said.

He has four children with his wife, Rhea Durham: Grace, 14, Brendan, 15, Michael, 18, and Ella, 20.

In 2022, the Pinterest CMO told Business Insider's Robin Madell that she goes to bed at 9 p.m. so she can start her days at 5 a.m.

Her morning routine consists of 45 minutes of intense cardio, then listening to a five-minute meditation while in the shower. Mallard then makes a breakfast smoothie, which she drinks around 6:30 a.m. while preparing for her workday.

This includes checking emails and reviewing and taking notes on pre-read materials, giving her at least two hours of uninterrupted work before she pauses to help get her three kids ready for school at 8 a.m.

"I'm definitely at my most creative or innovative in the very early morning hours, well before anyone wakes up. If a work challenge needs lateral thinking or requires serious creative muscle or a tough decision, it's the first thing I'll tackle in the morning," she said, as reported by Madell.

In his MasterClass on business strategy and leadership, the Disney CEO revealed his methods for using his time effectively.

"I happen to believe that in every day you need to have some quiet time to think, where you're not really being bombarded by external forces," Iger said.

Part of his quiet time comes from working out, which he does after waking up at 4:15 a.m., Business Insider reported in 2018.

"The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is work out. And I work out in solitude, typically in a darkened room, listening to music," he told his MasterClass.

"It's my most creative time in many ways. I also make sure that I don't look at any email before I work out. Because if I do so, that tends to distract me and, at times, can be really mood changing in nature. And I need that time to be kind of cleansed of too many external forces or influences so that I can really have clarity of thought," Iger added.

He said he usually arrives at the office between 6:30 and 6:45 a.m., which gives him time to ease into the day.

In a 2023 episode of Elle magazine's series "Waking Up With…," "Abbott Elementary" creator and star Quinta Brunson shared that although she was waking up at 8 a.m. for the video, she wakes up at 5 a.m. a lot.

The first thing she does in the morning is wash her face with water, a washcloth, and makeup remover wipes before moving on to skincare products.

A self-described "creature of habit," the Nike CEO told The Wall Street Journal in 2021 that he wakes up every weekday morning at 5:45 a.m.

"The first thing I do is drink 33 ounces of water and two cups of coffee, and then I stretch using the Hyperice Hypervolt. I meditate for 10 minutes and then I have a Nike personal trainer — his name's JC Cook. I work out from 7 to 8, four mornings a week with him," Donahoe said.

To keep up with the early wake-up time, he said he tries to get "seven-plus" hours of sleep per night. "Sometimes that's unrealistic, so I target getting 70 hours every 10 days," he said.

In a 2022 interview with Business Insider's Kiera Fields, Francis said he likes to simplify his mornings by doing the same thing every day.

This includes waking up between 5:30 and 5:45 a.m., much to the dismay of his wife, he said.

He starts his mornings with breakfast and time with his dogs before getting ready and heading to the office, where he works five days a week.

"I start work between 7:15 and 7:30 a.m. but wake up at 5 a.m. to give myself time to breathe," said Boyle in an interview with Business Insider's Lola Christine Alao in 2023.

Boyle said she likes to start her mornings by checking on yearlong goals and progress. "Everything I do ties into these initiatives, so it's important to start my mornings by breaking down what needs to be done in order to achieve our goals," she said.

The media legend gave a MasterClass on creativity and leadership in 2019, telling viewers in episode two, "Getting the Work Done: Anna's Management Tips," that she has "a pretty consistent structure" for her day.

"I wake up early, between 4 and 5:30 a.m. I read both the British and American papers online, so I know what's happening. I often play tennis. I eat breakfast consisting of Starbucks," she said.

Her motivation for waking early is to get ahead of the day's tasks before they "creep up on you," she said, MasterClass wrote.

"Most of my days are unpredictable and start at different times, so I try my best to keep up with a stable morning routine. I sleep with the drapes open to rise with the sun," Wolfe Herd told Entrepreneur in 2017. "I think that's a healthy thing to do because even if you don't like to wake up early, your body does adjust," she added.

Wolfe Herd gave The New York Times a glimpse into her "unpredictable" days in 2019. Throughout the week, her mornings included everything from a 5:30 a.m. call with her London-based Bumble founding partner Andrey Andreev to homemade celery juice and Chinese takeout for breakfast and a monthly directors' meeting.

After becoming a mother to two boys, Wolfe Herd told Time magazine in 2023 that she likes to operate one hour at a time.

"I try to do the drive to preschool with no calls so I can pay attention to him," she said of her oldest son, Bobby. "And then the minute I drop him off, literally as I'm giving him a hug out the door, I have to dial into something. But I've structured it so that that call on the way home is totally sequenced perfectly to get back to my computer to then pick up another two things on Zoom."

Nike announced its cost-cutting plans in a December 2023 earnings call, discussing a slow growth in sales. The call subsequently resulted in Nike's stock plunging.

"We are seeing indications of more cautious consumer behavior around the world," Nike Chief Financial Officer Matt Friend said in December.

On January 10, Google laid off hundreds of workers in its central engineering division and members of its hardware teams — including those working on its voice-activated assistant.

In an email to some affected employees, the company encouraged them to consider applying for open positions at Google if they want to remain employed. According to the email, April 9 will be the last day for those unable to secure a new position.

The tech giant laid off thousands throughout 2023, beginning with a 6% reduction of its global workforce (about 12,000 people) last January.

Discord employees learned about the layoffs in an all-hands meeting and a memo sent by CEO Jason Citron in early January.

"We grew quickly and expanded our workforce even faster, increasing by 5x since 2020," Citron said in the memo. "As a result, we took on more projects and became less efficient in how we operated."

In August 2023, Discord reduced its headcount by 4%. According to CNBC, the company was valued at $15 billion in 2021.

The layoffs announced in January are part of a larger Citigroup initiative to restructure the business and could leave the company with a remaining head count of 180,000 — excluding its Mexico operations.

In an earnings call that month, the bank said that layoffs could save the company up to $2.5 billion after it suffered a "very disappointing" final quarter last year.

Twitch announced on January 10 that it would cut 500 jobs, affecting over a third of the employees at the live-streaming company.

CEO Dan Clancy announced the layoffs in a memo, telling staff that while the company has tried to cut costs, the operation is "meaningfully" bigger than necessary.

"As you all know, we have worked hard over the last year to run our business as sustainably as possible," Clancy wrote. "Unfortunately, we still have work to do to rightsize our company and I regret having to share that we are taking the painful step to reduce our headcount by just over 500 people across Twitch."

Larry Fink, BlackRock's chief executive, and Rob Kapito, the firm's president, announced in January that the layoffs would affect around 600 people from its workforce of about 20,000.

However, the company has plans to expand in other areas to support growth in its overseas markets.

"As we prepare for 2024 and this very exciting but distinctly different landscape, businesses across the firm have developed plans to reallocate resources," the company leaders said in a memo.

In the fashion company's January announcement, COO and president Anushka Salinas said she will also be leaving the firm, Fast Company reported.

Around 1,800 jobs at the video game software company will be affected by the layoffs announced, Reuters reported in January.

In a January 23 memo, CEO Jamie Iannone told employees that the eBay layoffs will affect about 9% of the company's workforce.

Iannone told employees that layoffs were necessary as the company's "overall headcount and expenses have outpaced the growth of our business."

The company also plans to scale back on contractors.

In late January, nearly three months after Microsoft acquired video game firm Activision Blizzard, the company announced layoffs in its gaming divisions. The layoffs mostly affect employees at Activision Blizzard.

"As we move forward in 2024, the leadership of Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard is committed to aligning on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business," Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in a memo obtained by The Verge.

The cuts come a year after the tech giant announced it was reducing its workforce by 10,000 employees. It then slashed a further 1,000 roles across sales and customer service teams in July 2023.

Salesforce announced a round of layoffs that the company says will affect 1% of its global workforce, The Journal reported in late January.

The cuts followed a wave of cuts at the cloud giant last year. In 2023, Marc Benioff's company laid off about 10% of its total workforce — or roughly 7,000 jobs. The CEO said the company over-hired during the pandemic.

In late January, the US logistics startup laid off 15% of its staff which is around 400 workers.

The move came after Flexport founder and CEO Ryan Petersen initiated a 20% reduction of its workforce of an estimated 2,600 employees in October.

Flexport kicked off 2024 with the announcement that it raised $260 million from Shopify and made "massive progress toward returning Flexport to profitability."

The company behind the Roomba Vacuum announced layoffs in late January around the same time Amazon decided not to go through with its proposed acquisition of the company, the Associated Press reported.

The UPS layoffs will affect 14% of the company's 85,000 managers and could save the company $1 billion in 2024, UPS CEO Carol Tomé said during a January earnings call.

Announced in late January, this round of layoffs will affect about 2,500 employees at the payment processing company.

"We are doing this to right-size our business, allowing us to move with the speed needed to deliver for our customers and drive profitable growth," CEO Alex Chriss wrote in a January memo. "At the same time, we will continue to invest in areas of the business we believe will create and accelerate growth."

The digital-access-management company announced its plans for a "restructuring plan intended to improve operating efficiencies and strengthen the Company's commitment to profitable growth" in an SEC filing in February.

The cuts will impact roughly 400 employees.

Okta CEO Todd McKinnon told staff in a memo that "costs are still too high," CNBC reported.

The company behind Snapchat announced in February that it's reducing its global workforce by 10%, according to an SEC filing.

The cosmetics company announced in February that it would be cutting 3% to 5% of its roles as part of a restructuring plan.

Estee Lauder reportedly employed about 62,000 employees around the world as of June 30, 2023.

The electronic signature company said in an SEC filing in February that most of the cuts will be in its sales and marketing divisions.

The latest reduction announced in February amounts to about 2% of its workforce.

In February, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish sent a memo to employees announcing that 800 jobs — about 3% of its workforce — were being cut.

Deadline obtained the memo less than a month after reporting plans for layoffs at Paramount. The announcement comes on the heels of Super Bowl LVIII reaching record-high viewership across CBS, Paramount+, and Nickelodeon, and Univision.

Morgan Stanley is laying off several hundred employees in its wealth-management division, the Wall Street Journal reported in February, representing roughly 1% of the team.

The wealth-management division has seen some slowdown in recent months, with net new assets down by about 8% from a year ago. The layoffs mark the first major move by newly-installed CEO Ted Pick, who took the reins from James Gorman on January 1.

In February, networking company Cisco announced it was slashing 5% of its workforce, or upwards of 4,000 jobs, Bloomberg reported.

The company said it was restructuring after an industry-wide pullback in corporate tech spending — which execs said they expect to continue through the first half of the year.

Cutbacks part of an operational review at online travel giant Expedia Group are expected to impact 1,500 roles this year, a company spokesperson told BI.

The company's product and technology division is set to be the worst hit, a report from GeekWire said, citing an internal memo CEO Peter Kern sent to employees in late February.

"While this review will result in the elimination of some roles, it also allows the company to invest in core strategic areas for growth," the spokesperson said.

"Consultation with local employee representatives, where applicable, will occur before making any final decisions," they added.

The cuts at Sony Interactive Entertainment swept through its game-making teams at PlayStation Studios.

Insomniac Games, which developed the hit Spider-Man video game series, as well as Naughty Dog, the developers behind Sony's flagship 'The Last of Us' video games' were hit by the cuts, the company announced on February 27.

All of PlayStation's London studio will be shuttered, according to the proposal.

"Delivering and sustaining social, online experiences – allowing PlayStation gamers to explore our worlds in different ways – as well as launching games on additional devices such as PC and Mobile, requires a different approach and different resources," PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst wrote.

Hulst added that some games in development will be shut down, though he didn't say which ones.

In early February, Sony said it missed its target for selling PlayStation 5 consoles. The earnings report sent shares tumbling and the company's stock lost about $10 billion in value.

On February 27, the dating app company announced that it would be reducing its staff due to "future strategic priorities" for its business, per a statement.

The cuts will impact about 30% of its about 1,200 person workforce or about 350 roles, a representative for Bumble told BI by email.

"We are taking significant and decisive actions that ensure our customers remain at the center of everything we do as we relaunch Bumble App, transform our organization and accelerate our product roadmap," Bumble Inc CEO Lidiane Jones said in a statement.

Electronic Arts is laying off about 670 workers, equating to 5% of its workforce, Bloomberg reported in late February.

The gaming firm axed two mobile games earlier in February, which it described as a difficult decision in a statement issued to GamesIndustry.biz.

CEO Andrew Wilson reportedly told employees in a memo that it would be "moving away from development of future licensed IP that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry."

Wilson also said in the memo that the cuts came as a result of shifting customer needs and a refocusing of the company, Bloomberg reported.

IBM's chief communications officer Jonathan Adashek told employees on March 12 that it would be cutting staff, CNBC reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.

An IBM spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement that the cuts follow a broader workforce action the company announced during its earnings call in January.

"In 4Q earnings earlier this year, IBM disclosed a workforce rebalancing charge that would represent a very low single-digit percentage of IBM's global workforce, and we expect to exit 2024 at roughly the same level of employment as we entered with," they said.

IBM has also been clear about the impact of AI on its workforce. Last May, IBM's CEO Arvind Krishna said the company expected to pause hiring on roles that could be replaced by AI, especially in areas like human resources and other non-consumer-facing departments.

"I could easily see 30% of that getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period," Krishna told Bloomberg at the time.

On March 22, the owner of Jeep and Dodge announced it's laying off employees on its engineering, technology, and software teams in an effort to cut costs, CNBC reported.

Workers learned they were being let go through video calls after the car company ordered them to work remotely for the day. The cuts are set to occur on March 31.

Amazon is cutting hundreds of jobs from its cloud division known as Amazon Web Services, Bloomberg reported on April 3.

The reduction will impact employees on the sales and marketing team and those working on tech for its retail stores, Bloomberg reported.

"We've identified a few targeted areas of the organization we need to streamline in order to continue focusing our efforts on the key strategic areas that we believe will deliver maximum impact," an Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg.

On March 26, Amazon announced another round of job cuts after the company said it was slashing 'several hundred' jobs at its Prime Video and MGM Studios divisions earlier this year to refocus on more profitable products.

"We've identified opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investment and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact," Mike Hopkins, SVP of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, told employees in January.

This year's cuts follow the largest staff layoff in the company's history. In 2023, the tech giant laid off 18,000 workers.

Apple has slashed its California workforce by more than 600 employees.

The cuts follow Apple's decision to withdraw from its car and smartwatch display projects.

The tech giant filed a series of notices to comply with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification program. One of the addresses was linked to a new display development office, while the others were for the company's EV effort, Bloomberg reported.

Apple officially shut down its decadelong EV project in February. At the time, Bloomberg reported that some employees would move to generative AI, but others would be laid off.

Bloomberg noted that the layoffs were likely an undercount of the full scope of staff cuts, as Apple had staff working on these projects in other locations.

Representatives for Apple did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside normal business hours.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent a memo to employees Sunday, April 14, at nearly midnight in California, informing them of the company's plan to cut over 10% of its global workforce.

In his companywide memo, Musk cited "duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas" as the reason behind the reductions.

An email sent to terminated employees obtained by BI read: "Effective now, you will not need to perform any further work and therefore will no longer have access to Tesla systems and physical locations."

Two squadrons of F-15E Strike Eagles with the US Air Force helped shoot down about 70 attack drones launched by Iran. The dual-role fighter jets were operated by fighter pilots in the 494th Fighter Squadron from and 335th Fighter Squadrons

President Joe Biden spoke with members of the USAF fighter squadrons in a call after the failed Iranian attack, commending the Air Force pilots for their "exceptional airmanship and skill in defending Israel."

"Both these squadrons are incredible, absolutely incredible," Biden said in a clip of the call shared on X. "You made an enormous difference, potentially saving a lot of lives. Thanks to extraordinary skill, the United States helped Israel take down nearly all those incoming missiles. You're remarkable."

Lt. Col. Curtis Culver, 494th Fighter Squadron Commander, thanked the president in the call, saying "we're mighty proud to have our part in that contribution, sir."

A fleet of F-16s were also involved in downing the attack drones and missiles headed for targets in Israel, a US official told Air and Space Forces Magazine.

It wasn't immediately clear if the F-16s involved in the response were from the US Air Force or Israel Defense Forces, as Israel is the largest operator of F-16s outside of the US.

The multi-role fighter, which turned 50 this year, is built for engaging in air-to-air and air-to-ground combat, allowing it to locate and intercept targets in all-weather conditions.

At least one ballistic missile launched by Iran was downed by a US Army Patriot battery near Erbil, Iraq.

The Patriot defense system is a mobile missile interceptor that can reach aerial targets up to 66,000 feet. The Patriot can detect, track, and intercept drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.

However, the prized defense system does come with a high price tag, totaling $1.1 billion — about $400 million for a battery and about $690 million for the missiles — according to a report by the Congressional Research Service.

Last November, The Wall Street Journal reported the US sent more of the surface-to-air missile systems to positions across the Middle East in response to attacks on American forces stationed in Iraq and Syria by Iran-backed militia groups.

USS Arleigh Burke, a US Navy guided-missile destroyer and lead ship of its class, was one of two warships that shot down four to six Iranian-launched ballistic missiles.

The Arleigh Burke has been forward deployed to Rota, Spain, and was sailing in the Mediterranean Sea when Iran launched munitions at Israel. The 509-feet-long warship features advanced radar and sonar systems to detect and engage targets on, above, and below the water's surface.

The first-in-class US warship is equipped with the Navy's "most modern surface combat system," the Aegis Combat System. With the Aegis system, the Arleigh Burke is equipped with Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) ballistic missile interceptors, among others, that can be launched from a vertical launching system (VLS).

USS Carney, another Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, was operating in the Mediterranean Sea after making a port visit in Sicily last week when the attack happened.

Also equipped with the Aegis Combat System and accompanying interceptor missiles, the warship assisted in downing the Iranian-launched ballistic missiles.

Like it's sister ship, the Carney is also fitted with a multi-function, 3D air search radar and Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS), an automated, rapid-fire gun capable of engaging with anti-ship missiles and other close-in threats.

The Carney has also played a key role in shooting down threats launched by Iran-backed Houthis on commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The warship is one of four other guided-missile destroyers accompanying USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, a nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, that has been very active in the region in recent months.

Back in December, the US Navy highlighted USS Carney's hot streak in a cheeky game-day video ahead of the Army-Navy football game, saying that the destroyer was undefeated by a margin of 22-0 against the missiles and drones launched by the Houthis.