The United States once had to hold its breath on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. There were delays and cost overruns. Accidents plagued the program. The huge expense of building out the fleet still stings. Many foreign partners stood up and ordered the fifth-generation jet, though. Israel was one ally that has made their version of the F-35 Lightning II, an almost invisible hot rod that can dominate the airspace. The Israelis call their F-35I the Adir, which means “Mighty One,” and oh, how mighty this airplane is.
Teaching Israel’s Enemies a Lesson
An Israeli Air Force pilot climbs into an F-35I Adir prior to a Red Flag-Nellis 23-2 mission at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, March 16, 2023. Red Flag is an opportunity to build on the success of JUNIPER OAK 23-2, JUNIPER FALCON, and additional combined exercises to enhance interoperability with Israel, strengthen bilateral cooperation, and improve capabilities in ways that enhance and promote regional stability and reinforce the United States’ enduring commitment to Israel’s security. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Trevor Bell)
An Israeli Air Force pilot walks to an F-35I Adir prior to a Red Flag-Nellis 23-2 mission at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, March 15, 2023. Red Flag is an opportunity to build on the success of JUNIPER OAK 23-2, JUNIPER FALCON, and additional combined exercises to enhance interoperability with Israel, strengthen bilateral cooperation, and improve capabilities in ways that enhance and promote regional stability and reinforce the United States’ enduring commitment to Israel’s security. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Trevor Bell)
The F-35I has been a busy jet against Iran during the current conflict that is now in a tenuous cease-fire period. It has also been active against Hezbollah and Hamas in Beirut and Gaza.
This is no surprise to the Israeli air force, as the Jewish nation knew it was going to have a hit on its hands.
Incorporating Lessons Learned from Every Sortie
One of the best combat features of the F-35I is pilot feedback after missions.
Aviators can land, give their best rundown of the battle, and communicate lessons learned. This is updated in the mission data files, and then the F-35I is back at it with another splendid sortie.
Iranian Air Defenses Never Had a Chance
The F-35I’s electronic warfare capabilities are excellent.
This is truly a Day One bird that can jam and blind enemy air defenses.
The Iranian S-300 and S-400 surface-to-air missiles have been neutralized, and no F-35I has as much as a scratch after numerous sorties.
The Adir has been great at suppressing enemy air defenses to allow other Israeli strike fighters and American bombers to eliminate many Iranian targets such as ballistic missile launchers, missile production facilities, and command and control centers. The F-35I has also enabled additional attacks on Iranian nuclear infrastructure.
Israel’s F-35I Adir Fighter. Image credit: Creative Commons
Foiling Iran’s Mosaic Defense Strategy
Iran was supposed to have a dominant air defense system, which it called the mosaic strategy.
This is a decentralized asymmetric capability that enables an air defense network to operate seamlessly and autonomously without orders from higher command.
Each air defense node set its own mission parameters to destroy enemy aircraft across the country. The mosaic defense did not affect the F-35I at all. One could say the Israeli air intelligence assets totally rendered the mosaic useless. This was also assisted by American F-35s and F-22s, which conducted ground-strike missions to eliminate surface-to-air missile systems and blind their radars.
Why the Adir Is Great
As Amine Ayoub has written for the Jerusalem Post, “Real-time sensor fusion from the jet’s AN/APG-81 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, distributed aperture system, and electronic warfare suite allowed the Adirs to map Iranian radar sites, identify mobile launchers, and share targeting data instantaneously with other IAF assets – all while remaining invisible.”
Working With Allies Is Part of the Big Picture
This is music to Lockheed Martin’s ears and just what the Americans foresaw when they devised the stealth jet.
Allowing the F-35 to have interoperability with allies was a major selling point for U.S. partners. Israel made the airplane even better and allowed it to share flight data with the Americans for increased survivability and precision strike.
Israel Made the F-35 Into Its Baby
The special relationship with Israel allowed America to trust its main Middle East ally. Israel was the first partner to fly the F-35.
The government was allowed permission to upgrade and modernize the airplane as it saw fit. The F-35 would be heavy on ground-strike capabilities, but dogfighting was also a main objective.
First Aerial Combat Victory
In March, an F-35I shot down an Iranian Yakovlev Yak-130 fighter. This Russian-made airplane was no match for a fifth-generation jet. But this news thrilled the Israelis, who always wanted to show that aerial combat would be no problem for the F-35I.
This was the first combat win for the F-35 family in the history of the program. The F-35s had been used to eliminate drones and ballistic missiles, but this was an important victory over a manned aircraft, showing the Lightning II is a tough customer in a dogfight.
The Wait Was Worth It
This success over Iran and against terrorists in Lebanon and Gaza has put the world on notice that the F-35I has arrived in style. The Lightning II has endured much criticism for being too costly and overrated, with its various systems designed to overwhelm the enemy in a multi-role fashion.
The ground strike function was not assured, and since there were no instances of aerial combat wins, the airplane’s detractors were thinking that the juice was not worth the squeeze. But Israel changed that narrative.
I Want An Upclose Look, But ‘No’ Is the Answer
Now, the F-35I has a bright future ahead. I am regularly invited by a Middle East news association to tour Israel and to write articles about the country and its role in modern warfare. I always ask if I can see an F-35I and interview an Adir pilot. I’m never granted this opportunity, so you can see that Israel prizes secrecy in the program. And for good reason. The stakes are high in the Middle East, and Israel must reduce the number of prying eyes that could give up secrets about its valuable warbird.
Wowing the World
As Ayoub concluded, “The F-35I is not just Israel’s most advanced fighter jet. It is the technological guarantor that the Jewish state will always maintain the edge required to survive and prevail. Tehran just learned that lesson the hard way. The rest of the region is watching.”
I would amend that to say that the whole world is watching just how dominant the F-35I has become. There are 19 program partners across many regions. Lockheed Martin cannot build them fast enough. We’ll see just how much the F-35 can still proliferate in other air forces. It has proven its worth in combat, and the naysayers have now been silenced. The F-35 should not be replaced by drones as critics have claimed, and that is great news for the pilots who fly it so well. The Adir looks like one for the history books.
About the Author: Brent M. Eastwood, PhD
Author of now over 3,500 articles on defense issues, 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 US 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 US Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.
