Daily Alert Archives

Israeli Air Force Raced to Ready Aging Jets for the Most Dangerous Attack in Its History

(Ynet News) Yoav Zitun - Aside from UAVs and one and a half F-35 squadrons, most of Israel's jets were antiquated by Western standards: older-model F-16s and F-15s, Boeing 707-based refuelers. An officer said, "Remember, less than two years ago, we couldn't even fly freely over Lebanon due to Hizbullah's 100 Iranian-aided anti-air batteries. Now imagine sending hundreds of aircraft on thousands of sorties into Iran's airspace." Toward the end of 2024, the Defense Ministry, Air Force, and IDF Planning Directorate quietly launched a multi-pronged, secretive race against time to prepare for the operation. While jets were airworthy for quick strikes on nearby Hamas or Hizbullah targets, they were not mission-ready for deep-strike missions to Iran. Many of the replacement parts were no longer in production. "We quietly enlisted the manufacturers, without disclosing the full reason, but they didn't have all the solutions," an IAF officer said. "So we turned to friendly nations to ask for rare spare parts. These were added to components 3D-printed here." Meanwhile, the U.S. provided a vast range of weaponry in recent months and led an air and sea supply bridge involving thousands of spare parts. "We asked them to reopen old production lines - and thanks to a new, friendlier tone in Washington, it happened," said a senior officer. The deputy commander of CENTCOM, Vice Admiral Charles "Brad" Cooper, "went all-in to help us - opening U.S. stockpiles around the world for critical IAF needs....Some crucial parts arrived just a day or two before zero hour." U.S. support for the Iran operation peaked with the landing of the 8,000th cargo plane in Israel since Oct. 7, alongside dozens of supply ships. "The Air Force was rearmed over the past year with a decade's worth of munitions and systems," one officer noted. Nevertheless, multiple fighter jets and refueling planes suffered technical malfunctions mid-air, hundreds of miles from Israel. Brig.-Gen. Shlomi, head of the Equipment Directorate, said, "Not everything went smoothly. We lost some important drones. But to finish an operation like this without a single manned aircraft down - that's unprecedented."
2025-07-08 00:00:00
Full Article