Posted on 03/09/2017 3:53:15 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Have Israel’s new F-35s seen combat?
According to a French journalist, Israel’s newly received F-35A Adir stealth fighters have already seen combat. Reportedly, a first air strike was flown against targets in Syria in January – less than a month after the jets first touched down in Israel.
Georges Malbrunot, who writes for French newspaper Le Figaro, cited French intelligence sources. He posted on Twitter today that examples of the Israeli F-35 – two of which have been delivered to the country to date – took part in a raid over Syrian territory on the night of January 12-13. The mission saw them strike objectives around the capital, Damascus.
According to Malbrunot, the F-35s targeted warehouses containing Russian-made Pantsir-S1 mobile surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems that Israel feared could be delivered from Syria to Hezbollah forces operating in Lebanon. The warehouse was located at Mezzeh, a military airfield in Damascus.
(Excerpt) Read more at airforcesmonthly.com ...
No. Especially on the missions that occurred prior to delivery.
I’m not even sure that the F-35 has been tested with the full array of air-to-ground munitions, much less Israeli stuff. Maybe they could have gone in to lase a target for other strike aircraft, but that would have been an unnecessary thing to do since the other aircraft would have been detectable.
https://www.f35.com/news/detail/the-adir-has-landed
The “Adir” Has Landed
Nevatim Air Base, Israel // December 12, 2016
Today, December 12, 2016, the first pair of “Adir” (F-35I) stealth fighters landed in their new home, Nevatim AFB. The landing ceremony, which was slightly delayed due to heavy fog in Italy and American safety protocols, was attended by the PM of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, the President of Israel Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin, the Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, IAF Commander Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, heads of the involved military industries, the United States Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, U.S Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro, the President of “Lockheed Martin” Marillyn Hewson and delegates from around the world.
There are rumors and other articles stating that they flew missions in Syria prior to the delivery date. Even the Israeli’s wouldn’t send a new platform into harm’s way without shaking them out.
Yes, the Israelis have had F-35s in their possession for several months. There would be good reasons to fly them around in real conditions.
Single-seat fighter jockeys everywhere like some risk. If true, it would be interesting to know if the pilots were IAF bigwigs who shouldn’t have been putting themselves at risk.
But not likely they were on a mission that would be dependent on them, so that part seems true as well.
It was reported in January that the IAF F-35s were doing night flights “as part of the Israeli armed forces’ integration process with the F-35”, so the story might be a mistaken interpretation of actual exercises.
http://www.iaf.org.il/4456-48916-en/IAF.aspx
I will leave it up to experts here to sort it out.
Often times many experts here aren’t.
En route to Israel:
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Watch-F-35-stealth-jets-en-route-to-Israel-474841
Landing in Israel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbW5fGIQ5rw
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