met with the president-elect this afternoon and stopped by our live shot location to say hello. said he had a nice meeting. did you say fabio? maybe it s a hair summit. thank you very much. it s nearly as long as the empire state building is tall. in 2014, it was the launch deck for the first air strikes against isis. soon the uss george h.w. bush will head out to sea to face the enemy again. lucas thompsomlinson went on thp to see how they are preparing for the fight. reporter: on august 8, 2014, a pair of f-18s launched the first air strikes against isis in northern iraq. now nearly 2 1/2 years later, that same aircraft carrier is gearing up for a return to the fight after being delayed in the shipyard leaving america without an aircraft carrier until early next year.
the air force sin vece is inves. happened in eastern england. officials say the pilot was flying with five other f-18s from the mideast to california. the other jets landed safely at another british base. police firing tear gas and stun grenades to break up protesters in south africa. hundreds of students stormed the parliament building. they re demonstrating over proposed hike in tuition fees. there s word lego is running low on legos. some kids hoping to get them for the holidays might be out of luck. the company reports it can t keep up with demand. analysts say it s partly because of the lego movie. it was the best selling toy maker on planet earth. buy legos now. they might run out. this president, with all due respect, believes that america s leadership and presence in the world is not a force for good. america has led the world, and it is a more peaceful world when
leah joins us now. it s great to have you on the curvy couch. every time i see you, we talk about your adventures and your assignments. i live vicariously through you. my last assignment had me remembering navy days. i did aerobatic flying. it was a lot of fun and i wanted to take you all along for the ride with me. the national championship air race is here in reno, nevada. it s an annual institution for anyone who feels the need. for speed. as part of the air races this year, an incredible demonstration by the jet team. they fly the albatross which can go up to 600 miles an hour. they re civilians now, but the team is made up of former french fighter pilots. when i was a fighter pilot, i flew f-18s. it s been a long time since i ve been in a jet doing formation flying and aerobatics at the same time. this is one of my favorite things i did in the navy.
be able to pick up people. lea gabriel has more. what s the point here? you know i flew f-18s and one way we attacked targets is fly really low going into an area, basically below the radar to avoid being ticketed. that s not ideal for an airplane but that s the way long-range cruise missiles work and that s what the system is designed to address. there s a radar pod built into the underbelly, allowing it to see over obstructions such as mountains. people who make i say it gives our defense systems an early warning, listen. conventional radar can detect a cruise missile only seconds way. this system can detect the same threat when it s launched, and because it has fire control radar, commanders can protect themselves from the threat at the maximum range of their
abc s martha raddatz has the latest. reporter: the images are stunning. and so are the numbers. nearly 250 bombs and missiles launched from 48 fighter jets, bombers, drones and navy ships. it began in the dead of night. 3:30 a.m. local. more than 40 tomahawk cruise missiles fired from u.s. war ships in the persian gulf and red sea targeting that khorasan terror cell around aleppo and isis targets in raqqa. it struck training camps, manufacturing centers and a finance center. half hour later, 4:00 a.m., the u.s. joined by its arab partners unleashed a torrent of f-18s, f-15s and f-16s and the f-22, the first time the stealth fighter has been used in combat. hitting an isis command and control center with gps precision guided missiles. you can see on the left-hand side the before shot and you can see as you look at it on the right-hand side the after shot. just after 7:00 a.m., the