The F-35 stealth fighter's victory against Iran's air defenses demonstrates its ability to wage a higher war level

• F-35 combat operations have often been against terrorist and militant targets.

• Israel used the fighter jet in extensive strikes against Iran in late October.

• The success of that operation confirms the F-35's ability to fight threats at a higher level.

F-35 stealth fighters have been flying combat missions in the Middle East for years now, though mostly in sanctioned airspace against lower level targets. The jet's recent victory against Iran's air defenses, however, demonstrates its ability to counter threats at a higher level.

Britain's top military officer shared last week when Israel used fifth generation F-35s to execute retaliatory strikes against Iran in late October, it destroyed nearly all of Tehran's air defenses and struck its missile production sites.

Eliminating and destroying enemy air defenses through penetrating strikes – that's the kind of high-end mission the jet was made for.

The F-35 has historically been used against weaker targets with limited or no air defenses. Israeli F-35s have engaged Syrian surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft batteries and engaged in strikes on Iranian targets, but the expensive fighter jet has been employed largely against actors or -states such as ISIS, the Taliban, and the Houthis.

Israel's recent operations against Iran, which installed highly capable Russian surface-to-air missile systems, underscore the jet's ability to engage in higher-level combat.

Mark Gunzinger, a retired US Air Force colonel who flew the B-52 Stratofortress bomber, told Business Insider that “it would probably be a much more dangerous mission without the F-35. “

It is the 'power' of the F-35

The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter is a single-engine, multi-role advanced stealth fighter jet manufactured by American defense contractor Lockheed Martin. Several versions of the aircraft are in use by several countries, including Israel.

Michael Bohnert, a licensed engineer at the RAND Corporation, said that the F-35 was designed to provide more stealth, ISR (intelligence, surveillance, to replace fighter jets like the F-117, F-16, and F/A -18). and deposit), and other capabilities.

“The F-35 is a very good aircraft that was created out of the 1990s Pax Americana,” Bohnert told BI.

Israel, which operates a variant of the F-35A model designed for air force operations, was the first to fly the fighter jet in combat in 2018. The US military has since been deployed in missions throughout the Middle East.

The F-35 fighter may have faced its most daring task at the end of October, when Israel struck Iran in response to Tehran. large missile attack at the beginning of the month.

“Israel used more than 100 aircraft, carrying less than 100 weapons, and no aircraft getting within 100 miles of the target in the first wave, which brought down almost all of Iran's air defense system to All,” said Admiral Tony Radakin, head of the UK defence.

Radakin, speaking in London at a Dec. 4 speech hosted by the Royal United Services Institute, said Israel demonstrated the “power” of jets and the “disproportionate advantage of modern combat techniques” in his strikes against Iran.

His comments appeared to mark the first confirmation from a Western government that Israel used the fifth generation aircraft in the strikes. It was reported shortly after the operation that Israel flew its F-35s and shot down launched ballistic missiles.

Radakin's proposal for the F-35 followed Elon Musk criticized the jet and dismissed his subtle abilities. The aircraft is the Pentagon's most expensive military program, but is widely regarded as a key combat capability for US allies and partners.

The F-35 is not just a fighter jet; it will also be a bomber with impressive ISR capabilities, a battlefield command and control platform, and an electronic warfare aircraft.

“The capabilities of the F-35 are not theory – they are real,” said Gunzinger, director of concepts and future capability assessments at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, “and now they are on the proof in the fight against Russian imports. S-300 surface-to-air missile batteries used in response to stealth.”

Bohnert said the F-35 did “exactly what it was intended to do” against Iran.

In the time after the strikes on Iranan Israeli security official told BI that the strikes were “correctly targeted” at Iran's radar and air defense systems, putting the country at a “disadvantage”.

While the F-35 demonstrated its ability to fight against Iran, a more difficult fight against the jet would be in a conflict between the Western powers and Russia or China, which use more advanced air defense systems and at is their own fifth generation aircraft.

And the F-35 is not without its own challenges. The program is in front rising costs and preparation issues. Mission capability levels are declining, even as program costs increase. Bohnert said it will be important to increase the aircraft's maintenance and logistics capability for any high-level conflict.

However, the F-35 is showing its combat capability today, as Radakin and others have said. And the aircraft's advanced combat capabilities have not been lost on Congress, where House lawmakers will include their fiscal year 2025 defense spending bill. call for more F-35s than the Pentagon originally requested.

The development of the jet came with more than its fair share of problems, but, Gunzinger said, the “F-35s today are operational and ready for the fight.”

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