Israel's one-of-a-kind F-35 stealth jet is flying into a higher level of combat in fights with Iran
Actions against Iran are the "most challenging" F-35s have flown, an airpower expert said.
The F-35's success is showcasing the jet's capabilities and ability to fight higher-level battles.
Israel's unique version of the F-35 stealth fighter is showing the jet's readiness for a higher level of combat in its fights with Iran, a difficult adversary that until recently fielded a challenging arsenal of air defense weapons.
Over 200 Israeli fighter jets took part in the opening strikes last Friday, and Israeli Air Force photos from the operation confirm the involvement of the F-35I "Adir." Additional strikes have since followed.
The latest attacks, which have targeted Iranian nuclear facilities, military leaders, and critical defensive capabilities, coupled with the attack last year on Iranian defenses mark the most difficult operations the jet has ever flown in, showcasing its strengths and adaptability across weapons and roles in a way previous engagements against non-state actors or nations with far weaker defenses did not.
200 מטוסי קרב, מעל 330 חימושים שונים:
תיעודים מפעילות חיל-האוויר במבצע "עם כלביא" pic.twitter.com/e9D556OGQh
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) June 13, 2025
Israel's F-35s, along with fourth-generation aircraft like the F-16 and F-15, have been targeting Iran for days, and Israel's military said Monday that the bombing runs had given them air superiority over sections of Iran, including Tehran, its capital.
"עם כלביא": תיעודים מרגעי ההמראות והנחיתות של מטוסי הקרב של חיל-האוויר, במבצע לפגיעה בתוכנית הגרעין האיראנית pic.twitter.com/uQkjU2o8MU
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) June 13, 2025
The intense, ongoing Israeli combat operation is aimed at destroying Iran's nuclear program and also severely degrading military capabilities, including its ballistic missile programs and air defenses.
Justin Bronk, an airpower expert at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, told Business Insider that the strength of Iranian defenses at the time made the combat operations that Israel conducted last October and the most recent strikes on Iran "the most challenging kinetic campaign that F-35s have flown in."
The Israeli military has not discussed specific F-35 actions against Iran, but the jet's capabilities and the nature of the targets suggest the aircraft could be playing a central role.
Bronk said that based on the publicly available information from Israeli Air Force officials, every indication is that "the F-35I has been a critical and highly successful leading edge capability in the overall Israeli air campaign at every stage."
The jet's involvement isn't necessarily surprising as penetrating contested airspace and suppressing enemy defenses is what the F-35 is designed to do and what Israel bought it for, he said. That said, this moment is an opportunity to showcase the jet's prowess.
The jet, Bronk said, "offers a combination of stealth, capability to rapidly detect, identify, and geolocate radar-emitting threats like air defense systems, pass those targets to other aircraft or strike them itself, and conduct electronic warfare attacks to suppress said targets to protect other aircraft and get weapons through to targets."
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is a single-engine, multi-role stealth aircraft made by US defense contractor Lockheed Martin and employed by countries around the world.
The US military operates three variants of the jet, the A for conventional take-off, the B for short take-off and vertical landing, and the C for carrier operations. Most allied and partner nations operate one of the three variants, but Israel flies a unique F-35 variant.
Israel's F-35I is its only fifth-generation aircraft. It was the first military to use the F-35 in combat in 2018. It currently operates just under 40 of them but is acquiring more. Israel's specific model is a subvariant of the F-35A the US Air Force flies.
What makes the F-35I "Adir" unique is that Israel can modify the mission data and programming of the jets and integrate domestically developed systems, from electronic warfare to data links and cybersecurity, without relying on US-directed software update cycles. Those unique features, which allow the jet to be more tailored to Israeli needs, exclude it from US-provided updates for other F-35 customers.
Israeli attacks on Iran have put the jet and the larger Israeli Air Force to the test. In the latest strikes, Israeli fighter jets struck over 100 targets across Iran, including key military sites and the main Iranian uranium enrichment site. The mission is aimed at preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon.
The Israeli Defense Force has said that the Iranian nuclear program has "accelerated significantly" in recent months and called it "clear evidence the Iranian regime is operating to obtain a nuclear weapon."
Iran has said its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, but enrichment levels and secretive nuclear activity have raised concerns about its intentions.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.
American officials have said the US isn't involved in the strikes and warned Iran against retaliating against US forces in the region. The US Navy has warships, including an aircraft carrier and several surface ships, stationed in and around the Middle East, and some of these assets have provided air defense for Israel, helping shield it from retaliatory Iranian missile strikes.
The US has been adjusting its force posture in the area recently, but it remains unclear if the US will become more involved or keep its distance from the ongoing fight.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Massie vows Trump's threats to primary him will ‘backfire tremendously'
Rep. Thomas Massie's (R-Ky.) vowed that President Trump's threats to primary him will 'backfire tremendously' and ultimately lead to Republicans losing their House majority in the 2026 midterms. 'Well, they've spent $1.8 billion against me so far in my congressional district. I think it has had very little effect, but they are trying to beat up on me to keep everyone else in line here and I think it is not working. I think what's gonna happen, this will be a referendum on whether the executive branch controls the legislative branch,' Massie said during a Tuesday interview with NBC News. 'I am going to prevail. What they are going to find out is it will embolden members of Congress here to go with their heart, with their minds, with their constituents and not just toe the party line,' Massie told NBC' Sahil Kapur. Trump's political operation has launched a targeted campaign seeking to oust Massie, who has regularly criticized the administration and refused to support its legislative agenda. Kapur asked Massie if he thought the president's effort 'will backfire in the next two years.' 'I think it's gonna backfire tremendously,' Massie said. 'Number one, I think they are wasting millions of dollars against me and they are going to lose the majority because of that, but number two, I think it will embolden Republicans who are right now quietly agreeing with me, but saying 'I am afraid of winning my primary, let's see if you can win yours Massie.'' Trump called the Kentucky lawmaker the 'worst Republican Congressman, and an almost guaranteed NO VOTE each and every time, is an Embarrassment to Kentucky' the president said in a Monday night post on Truth Social, linking to an anti-Massie ad released by pro-Trump PAC MAGA Kentucky. 'He's lazy, slow moving, and totally disingenuous – A real loser! Never has anything positive to add. Looking for someone good to run against this guy, someone I can Endorse and vigorously campaign for,' Massie was one of two House Republicans who voted against the president's 'big, beautiful bill' and has previously denounced the U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities on June 21, earning him rebukes from Trump and his allies. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) stopped short on Tuesday from endorsing Massie, saying 'bless his heart' when asked about his push for a bipartisan measure calling for the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender and late, disgraced financier. 'Some people seem to enjoy trying to inflict political pain on their own teammates. I'm not going to address anybody individually, but I'll tell you that some here are much more frustrated than others,' Johnson said during a press conference on Tuesday. 'One in particular just gives me lots of consternation. I don't understand. I don't understand Thomas Massie's motivation, I really don't,' the House speaker added. 'I don't know how his mind works, I don't know what he's thinking.'
The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
Israel's Gaza church strike sparks moral debate. Is it losing support from its strongest US allies?
The Israel Defense Forces struck the only Catholic church in Gaza last week. The compound of the Holy Family, which belongs to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, was hit at 10:20 a.m. local time. Three civilians were killed and nine others injured, including the parish priest. The Patriarchate described the attack plainly: 'the targeting of innocent civilians.' Israel, after a torrent of international criticism including from President Trump, claimed the strike was a mistake. But no public evidence has yet supported that explanation. Churches, of course, are not difficult to identify: cross, steeple, certain features. And no credible account has emerged explaining how this specific target was mistakenly hit. Many argue that the strike may have been an intentional form of retaliation for Christian leaders' recent criticism of Israeli settler violence in a West Bank Christian town. Regardless of intent, this strike is an instantiation of a political turning point. The truth is that Israel overstepped not only the line of military proportionality, but the line that keeps even its staunchest allies — American evangelical conservatives — in its corner. That shift is visible at the top. Even Mike Huckabee, a longtime evangelical ally of Israel and U.S. ambassador to the country, has warned that Israel may be turning openly hostile toward Christians. In a pointed letter to Israel's Interior minister, he threatened visa restrictions on Israel for blocking Christian pilgrims from entering the country. Huckabee's criticism matters not just because of his stature, but that he represents millions of evangelical voters who have historically provided Israel with a powerful base of bipartisan American support. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), too, voted alongside Democrats to strip Israel of $500 million in funding hours after the bombing. Another Mike, Daily Wire commentator and essential Christian Zionist Michael Knowles, reacted to the strike and said: 'You're losing me. When you strike churches and start interfering with American interests… Now we've got a problem.' Support for Israel in the U.S. has long rested on two legs: shared strategic interests and shared moral values. The second of those legs is buckling: not just on the left, but now, visibly, among Israel's own evangelical base. The political backlash already underway clearly shows that Israel's pattern of hostility toward Christians is beginning to carry substantial consequences. Evidently, Israel's gamble with the goodwill of its strongest political base in the U.S. has failed. And there's another reason why striking a church is politically self-defeating: the West may struggle to communicate empathy for Palestinian civilians, but they brought in the beacon of American conservatism: Christianity and the church. I say this not as someone predisposed to condemn Israel. I as a Christian was broadly supportive of Israel in the weeks following Oct. 7. Not out of ideology but because, prudentially, I believed Israel's response to Hamas' attacks was warranted and necessary. But I now firmly believe government of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has crossed the proportionality line with its recent food and aid blockade and relentless bombardment of civilians. Self-evidently, Israel has gone beyond its supposed mission to eliminate Hamas and get the remaining hostages released, and now seem overshadowed by an egregiously destructive military operation. And just as Israel's moral clarity has eroded, so too has the political cover once granted by its most reliable American supporters. When Israel strikes the church in Gaza they lose Michael Knowles. When Israel starts interfering with Christian pilgrims, they lose Mike Huckabee. And if they lose the Huckabee archetype, whom they rely on, then the Israeli government is badly misplaying its hand. In any case, an indefinite war, especially one with such a catastrophic civilian toll, cannot retain public or political support in the U.S. Still, the U.S. remains Israel's closest ally. But that support depends on shared values. If those values begin to diverge, so too will the relationship. William Liang is a writer living in San Francisco. His work has appeared in the Daily Wire, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Diego Union-Tribune and more.
The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
Iran's foreign minister: US strikes ‘destroyed' nuclear facilities
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said during a recent interview that the U.S.'s strikes last month 'destroyed' Tehran's nuclear facilities and that the country will not refrain from continuing to enrich uranium. 'It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up [on] enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,' Araghchi told Fox News's Bret Baier. Araghchi later added that the 'facilities have been destroyed.' Iran's foreign minister, in an interview on 'Special Report with Bret Baier,' said Iran will be able to rebuild the facilities, insisting that Tehran would not pause enriching uranium. 'If the goal is to make sure that Iran will never have nuclear weapons, that is achievable,' Araghchi said. President Trump and other administration officials have claimed that U.S. military strikes on June 21 'completely destroyed' Iran's three nuclear sites — at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. A recent intelligence assessment, which was reported by multiple news outlets last week, said that the nuclear facility in Fordow was mostly destroyed, but the ones in Natanz and Isfahan were not and could potentially resume uranium enrichment. Apart from the White House, the Defense Department (DOD) has also pushed back against the intelligence report, saying that the June attacks, carried out by B-2 bombers and Tomahawk cruise missiles, obliterated all three sites. DOD's chief spokesman Sean Parnell said to reporters earlier in July that the Pentagon's assessments indicated that Iran's nuclear program was set back by 'one to two years.' Israel initially attacked Iran on June 13, which led to a 12-day war between the two countries. A ceasefire was reached on June 24. Prior to the conflict, the U.S. and Iran completed five rounds of nuclear talks, although the two countries did not reach a deal. Trump pulled out of a former President Obama-negotiated deal in 2018. 'It is developed by ourselves. It is an achievement by ourselves. The technology is there. The scientists are there, the people who have run these facilities are there. Buildings can be rebuilt. Facilities can be rebuilt. Machines can be replaced,' Araghchi said. 'I think the recent attack proved that there is no military option for our nuclear program,' the foreign minister added.
