The victory of the F-35 stealth fighter against Iran's air defenses highlights its ability to fight a high level of warfare.

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

• Israel used fighter jets in widespread strikes against Iran in late October.

• The success of that mission underscores the F-35's ability to combat advanced threats.

F-35 stealth fighters have been flying combat missions in the Middle East for years now, though mostly in airspace that allows against low-level targets. The latest aerial victory against Iran's air defenses, however, highlights its ability to combat advanced threats.

A British military official shared last week that when Israel used fifth-generation F-35s to carry out retaliatory strikes against Iran in late October, they destroyed almost all of Tehran's air defenses and hit its missile production facilities.

Suppression and destruction of the enemy's air defenses by means of incoming strikes – that is the type of high-level task for which the aircraft is designed.

The IF-35 has historically been used against weak targets with limited or no air defense. Israeli F-35s have fought Syrian surface-to-air missiles and aircraft batteries and engaged in targeted Iranian strikes, but the expensive fighter jet has been used mostly against non-state actors such as ISIS, the Taliban, and the Houthis.

Israel's recent operations against Iran, which have included Russian-made surface-to-air missile systems, underscore the aircraft's high-level combat capabilities.

Mark Gunzinger, a retired US Air Force colonel who flew the B-52 Stratofortress bomber, told Business Insider that without the F-35, it would have been a “very dangerous mission.”

The 'Power' of the F-35

The IF-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter is a single-engine, multi-role advanced fighter jet developed by American contractor Lockheed Martin. Many types of aircraft are used by several countries, including Israel.

Michael Bohnert, a licensed engineer at the RAND Corporation, said the F-35 is designed to replace existing fighter jets such as the F-117, F-16, and F/A-18 with increased stealth, ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and and research), and other skills.

“The IF-35 is a large aircraft that was created in the 1990s by the Pax Americana,” Bohnert told BI.

Israel, which uses a variant of the F-35A model designed for air force operations, became the first to fly the fighter jet into combat in 2018. The US military has since used it in operations across the Middle East.

The F-35 faced its most difficult task in late October, when Israel attacked Iran in response to a major missile attack by Tehran earlier in the month.

“Israel deployed more than 100 aircraft, carried less than 100 weapons, and not a single aircraft came within 100 miles of the target of the first wave, and that brought down almost all of Iran's air defense system,” he said. Adm. Tony Radakin. , UK defense chief.

Radakin, speaking in London at a December 4 speech organized by the Royal United Services Institute, said that Israel has demonstrated the “power” of the aircraft and the “incomparable beauty of modern warfare” in its strikes against Iran.

His words appeared to confirm for the first time to a Western government that Israel had used a fifth generation aircraft in the strikes. It was reported shortly after the operation that Israel flew F-35s and fired air-launched ballistic missiles.

Radakin's fame for the F-35 came after Elon Musk criticized the plane and dismissed its stealth capabilities. The aircraft is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons system, but it is widely regarded as an important warfighting capability for US allies and partners.

The IF-35 is not just a fighter jet; it also serves as a bomber with ISR capabilities, a battlespace command and control platform, and an electronic warfare aircraft.

“The capabilities of the F-35 are not a theory – they are real,” said Gunzinger, the director of future concepts and energy testing at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, “and now they have been proven in combat against those imported from Russia. The S-300 surface-to-air missile batteries are considered the answer of cunning.”

Bohnert said the F-35 is “doing what it was designed to do” against Iran.

After the Iranian strikes, an Israeli security official told BI that the strike “precisely targeted” Iran's radar and air defense systems, putting the country in a “critical situation.”

While the F-35 shows its capabilities against Iran, the aircraft will face a tough battle between the Western powers and Russia or China, which have more advanced air defense systems and have their own fifth generation aircraft.

And the F-35 is not without its challenges. The program faces rising costs as well readiness issues. The cost of equipment is decreasing, as the cost of the system is increasing. Bohnert said it will be important to increase the aircraft's maintenance and operational capabilities in any high-altitude conflict.

Still, the F-35 is proving its combat prowess today, as Radakin and others have said. And the advanced combat capabilities of the fighter jet are not lost on Congress, where House lawmakers are on their defense spending bill for the 2025 fiscal year. called for more F-35s rather than what the Pentagon had originally requested.

The development of the aircraft comes with more difficulties than difficulties, but, Gunzinger said, “the F-35s today are operational and ready for combat.”

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