🔷 DUDE

Dude

Last weekend, F-15E WSO DUDE 44B was recovered in a rescue mission that will make for an epic Michael Bay movie.

We’ll let others pontificate and speculate on the mission, but we have one detail we guarantee no other media outlet has: the DUDE call sign.

Here is the story behind DUDE.

Bagram

When F-15Es first started flying in Afghanistan 20+ years ago, they used the HOSS call sign (alert lines flew MAFIA, also a badass callsign).

HOSS paid homage to the best of the best—it’s the callsign used by the 17th WPS, the F-15E unit at USAF Weapons School (i.e., the Air Force’s Top Gun).

In early 2007, it was decided to station F-15Es in Afghanistan at Bagram Air Base. By April, the 492d EFS Bolars were in place as the second F-15E squadron to support Operation Enduring Freedom in-country.

But the 492 EFS squadron commander was not fond of the HOSS call sign and directed a change to EAGLE.

EAGLE

At first glance, the F-15E Strike Eagle flying as EAGLE appeared rational.

After all, the F-16 flew with VIPER, the A-10 flew as HAWG, and the B-1B was BONE.

Despite a cadre of instructors voicing concern, on 25 May 2007, the F-15E flying call sign went from HOSS to EAGLE.

One of the first flights as EAGLE went about how the instructors predicted—not good.

It happened to be a night mission supporting a special operations task force, with many aircraft and ground troops on a common radio frequency. Turns out, “eagle” is also ground com brevity for a friendly (something the instructors were keenly aware of). With 2 jets using EAGLE in every radio transmission, it was an SA-grenade.

Less than 30 minutes after they had checked into the mission, the two-ship of F-15Es were sent home. By the time the F-15Es had landed, the task force had already called the F-15E unit’s ops desk and told them they were suspended from supporting special operations until they picked a new call sign.

A few hours later, the commander arrived to begin his day and got the news.

The ops super (“Top-3” in Air Force parlance) was directed to pick another callsign—as long as it wasn’t HOSS. He called the liaison officer (LNO) at the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) in Al Udeid to work the issue.

The Top-3 and the LNO ran through the list of the theater’s approved call signs, but none really jumped out.

The Dude

At this point, it should be noted that at the time, there were few cult films more revered by its audience than The Big Lebowski. Released in 1998, the laid-back, sarcastic, individualistic demeanor of the main character—the dude—seemed to strike just the right tone with the squadron, their mission, and the deployment.

Deciding DUDE was the perfect call sign, the LNO started the bureaucratic process of getting it on the approved list.

After several frustrating days with no progress and pressure mounting, the LNO scoffed the process and unilaterally inserted it into the daily air tasking order (ATO) without approval.

After 6 days and 32 missions flown, EAGLE was no more.

On May 31, 2007, DUDE 01, a flight of two F-15Es, launched from Bagram to support a close air support mission—and F-15E combat operations in the Middle East have used the call-sign ever since.

The Dude Abides.

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In That Number

425 of 2,300

The U.S. has committed nearly its entire stealth missile inventory to the conflict with Iran, leaving only 425 of 2,300 JASSM-ERs available for the rest of the globe.

TRIVIA

Welcome NASA’s Artemis II crew back from their moon mission.

On April 12, 1981—45 years earlier—NASA launched the maiden voyage of the first-ever reusable spacecraft. Known as Space Transportation System-1 (STS-1), its better known by what name?

A) Challenger 
B) Columbia
C) Discovery 

On the Radar

The $1.5T Defense Surge. The White House officially requested a whopping $1.5T defense budget for FY2027, with $17.5B for the Golden Dome missile shield and $66B for "Golden Fleet" shipbuilding. (two break-out topics below)

• The Merge’s Take: Trying to repeat a second "funding spike" year before the mid-term elections, it depends on the same tactic: $350B of the budget is dependent on another high-stakes reconciliation bill (OBBB, the sequel). While more budget details won’t come out until later this month, the reconciliation strategy looks different than last year. Instead of just “nice to have plus-ups,” it looks like its purposefully blending critical baseline items into it—including 53 of 85 requested F-35s. Expect political fireworks over the next 5 months. Outside the reconciliation, the $1.15T base budget is still a ~16% increase from the FY26 baseline.

Loyal Wingman update. The Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) effort is moving from the lab to the assembly line. The FY2027 budget includes $2.37B, with $996M for the first procurement of production CCAs.

• The Merge’s Take: Prepare to drop the “Y” designation. Unless a dark horse emerges, these will be some combination of General Atomics FQ-42 and Anduril FQ-44. Both are making progress, including flying with AIM-120 missiles and one crashed last week. While a crash usually signals a program disaster, it should be viewed as the cost of doing business with affordable mass-type programs. Speed to field means accepting risk in flight test to accelerate the learning cycle—just like SpaceX does.

DAWG’s $54B Bite. The Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG) is set for a historic transformation, with the White House requesting a $54.6B budget for FY2027—a staggering 24,166% increase over its current funding. Tasked with leading the "Hellscape" strategy, the group will oversee the mass production of one-way attack drones and uncrewed surface vessels.

• The Merge’s Take: It’s so far out there that it could be a typo. For perspective, the line item rivals the entire U.S. Marine Corps budget and essentially represents a new military branch. More to follow once the detailed budget gets released in a few weeks.

R&D Brain Drain. The Pentagon’s FY2027 budget proposes a massive $4.5B reduction in R&D funding, cutting basic and applied research by approximately one-third. The Space Force is set to bear the brunt of these cuts with a $2.6B drop in basic research.

• The Merge’s Take: It looks like a shift from being a primary developer to an active customer, betting on private sector venture capital and "dual-use" tech firms can fill the innovation void. That’s a narrative, but here’s the truth: tech bros do not fund basic research. It’s foundational science, not an investable pitch deck; this is why the government funds it. If you want to cut R&D, look elsewhere.

They Said It

“I think the American public and the taxpayers should be judging NASA based on outcomes, and not how quickly we can spend money every year.”

— Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator, defending a FY2027 budget proposal that includes a 23% cut to the agency's topline

“Kaela – We are looking into this.”

— also Jared Isaacman, responding to a letter from 10-year-old Kaela requesting Pluto's reinstatement as a full planet. Click, then scroll up and read the handwritten plea.

Knowledge Bombs

• Hermeus raised a $350M Series C for high-speed aircraft production

• XDOWN unveiled STUD, a backpack-carried drone for squad-level tactical strikes

• Fire Point is developing an air-launched ballistic missile based on the FP-9

• Fire Point is also developing a low-cost alternative to the Patriot system

• Kraus Hamdani Aerospace won a $270M contract for its K1000ULE drones

• X-Bow Systems won a $12M contract with AEVEX for drone rocket motors

• DAON unveiled SWARM-X strike drones capable of high-speed swarm operations

• Beehive Industries won a $29.7M Air Force contract for disposable jet engines

• Cambridge Aerospace won a Skyhammer drone interceptor contract with the UK

• Booz Allen Ventures invested in Portal Space Systems for orbital maneuvering tech

• Aeon is integrating Zeus guided missiles onto Ukrainian drones

• Portal Space raised a $50M Series A to build maneuverable spacecraft

• Bahrain's F-16 Block 70 achieved its first air-to-air kills against Iranian drones

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ANSWER
B) Columbia. On April 12, 1981, the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-1) roared off the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center. Unlike previous spacecraft that were discarded after one use, the Shuttle was designed to fly multiple missions. Note the white main tank in the photo below (later missions left the orange foam unpainted.)

OBTW: The launch occurred on the 20th anniversary of Vostok 1, the first human spaceflight, performed by Yuri Gagarin for the USSR. That means today is the 65th anniversary of human orbital space flight.