F-35I Enables Israeli Air Force to Flex Its Muscles – The Israeli F-35I is nicknamed the “Adir,” which means mighty, strong, or mighty one in Hebrew – a moniker taken from the Biblical book Psalms and chosen by a public survey. Israel received its first F-35I Adirs in 2016, and is a customized version of the F-35A the U.S. Air Force flies. In fact, no other nation flies the F-35I Adir.
The F-35Is are currently protecting the Homeland and going after numerous ground targets in Gaza and Lebanon. When the F-35Is began arriving in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Our long arm has become longer and mightier.” The F-35I offers the Israeli Air Force stealth capabilities to win potential dogfights against Iran if the two countries ever tangle and is more survivable in contested air spaces.
Sensor Shooter Is Highly Advanced
The F-35I also allows Israel to hit targets in Syria. It is unique to Israel and the components are updatable. The Israelis have made improvements to the F-35 that include command and control, computers, communications, and weapons capabilities. The Israelis also depend on the F-35I for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance duties. It’s a “sensor shooter.”
The Cost Is Worth It
The F-35Is fly out of Nevatim Air Base in central Israel. The second Israeli Adir squadron stood up in 2020. The F-35I is expensive to keep in the air costing an estimated $44,000 an hour to fly. But the enhancements that have made the F-35I such a formidable airplane make up for the cost. The airplane has a jamming pod and can engage in adept electronic warfare aspects of flight. Each F-35I networks well together.
“Imagine a system that can simultaneously operate or even jam multiple frequencies, accurately identify threats and signals, and enable key countermeasures like frequency hopping,” according to BulgarianMilitary.com.
Dominating the Skies
Israel’s enemies do not have fifth-generation fighters like the Adir, and these stealth fighters establish automatic air dominance. The F-35I is also great at eliminating enemy missiles fired from Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Adir can jam drones and knock them off their flight path, giving Israel unprecedented air defenses when combined with the Iron Dome and David’s Sling defenders.
F-35I Adir: Armed Well for Modern Aerial Combat
F-35Is carry an assortment of Sidewinders and AMRAAMs. They used those to shoot down two Iranian unmanned craft in 2021. The F-35Is also drop precision-guided JDAMs at ground targets. The Adir was believed to be the airplane that attacked the Iranian embassy in Syria in April.
Israeli-American ‘Fighter Diplomacy’
In June of this year, the Israeli Air Force agreed to a transaction for a new squadron of 25 F-35Is worth $3 billion. They will be delivered by 2028. I call this “fighter diplomacy.” The deal strengthens ties between the United States and Israel at a time when the U.S. government, particularly the White House, Department of State, and Department of Defense, have been critical of Netanyahu’s military actions against Gaza and Lebanon. The United States worries that air strikes in those countries killing terror honchos like Hezbollah mastermind Hassan Nasrallah has escalated the military situation in the Middle East. The DOD has even readied some U.S. forces to be potentially deployed in the region should the war expand to Iran.
A third squadron of F-35Is gives the Israeli Air Force unprecedented control over the battlespace in the Middle East. The Israelis are unlikely to lose the stealth fighter in combat and aside from an accident, they will keep the F-35I and its multi-mission role intact as a platform that can perform air defense or ground attack mode.
Pilot Friendly
It appears Israeli pilots have taken to the F-35I and have endured no steep learning curves to operate it. The F-35I quickly took to the skies in combat situations after the first Adirs arrived.
Israel’s F-35I program must be considered a rousing success. It gives Israel one of the most advanced fighters in the world that outmatch anything the state’s enemies can fly. Its air defense capabilities have been excellent, giving Israel another option to shoot down enemy cruise missiles and drones. It can also collect intelligence data as the flying computer sucks up targeting information on terrorist hiding places, enemy weapons caches, and rocket launchers. The F-35I will be a workhorse in the future and a national champion which gives Israel a great sense of pride.
About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood
Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare, plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.
404NotFound
September 30, 2024 at 3:14 pm
The adir is formidable.
Like the german focke-wulf 190 when it first appeared.
However, there are reports Israel lost an adir to Syrian anti-aircraft fire after attacking the country.
A surface-to-air missile pursued fleeing aircraft and exploded in mid-air.
Shrapnel hit an adir but it managed to limp back to base
Later, it was totally scrapped due to it being uneconomic to effect repairs since only Lockheed could do it and shipping it all the way to america to stay there for a year or two sounded ridiculous.
megiddo
September 30, 2024 at 7:29 pm
Hmm, I wonder if north Korea supposing if it actually is suddenly in a situation where it finds itself in possession of one, or several j-35s, would secretly or covertly go over to Iran and work out a plan to confront adirs operating inside Iranian airspace.
Just imagine, a j-35 lures over a bunch of nearby adirs to investigate, then suddenly a whole fleet of mini-drones appear out of nowhere, possibly fired upward from a hidden truck, and directed by ground operators.
One or two adirs are surprised and hit by the drones which have kamikaze’d themselves at the fighters.
The pilots bail out & are taken POW. While the fighters crash to the earth. Crash and burn.
It truly takes two ultra creative minds to tango inn the face of grave adir threat.
North Korea and Iran are exactly two of them.
404NotFound
October 1, 2024 at 9:09 pm
The adir, or the use of the vaunted aircraft, could prompt Iran to develop and operate its own version of America’s starshield.
If Iran wishes to do that, it can always call on several friendly nations for assistance.
No nation facing danger today must be without a starshield of its own deployed and working in orbit 24/7.
Pingback: Could Israel Attack and Destroy Iran's Nuclear Program? - NationalSecurityJournal